


Pieces of the Puzzle

by MelyndaR



Series: Strength in Numbers [2]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Multi, Polyamory, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-02 10:58:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 24,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4057453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki is given one of the strangest punishments Odin could've ever concocted for his crimes against Midgard... but as it turns out, he's a brilliant matchmaker even against the most impossible odds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_February, 1947_

Peggy Carter wasn't the type to complain, and she wasn't doing it now – not complaining, that was. Complaining took verbalization, and she was keeping her complaints quite to herself today, so what she was doing could probably be considered… sulking, instead. It wasn't like she didn't have fair reason to do so, though! Not even two months ago, one of her soulmates had been shot – by one of her two missing soulmates, which was another story with its own set of agonies entirely – and Jack had since been declared unfit to continue working as the director of the SSR, which wounded her – and Jack Thompson – thoroughly enough on its own. Then there was the small matter of Jack's temporary – thank God – replacement.

If he called her a pet name one more time, she was going to show him exactly how not-sweet she could be and then trust Howard to get her job back for her when she was fired for hurting a superior. She hadn't been treated this badly in the office since her husband had started running it, and she was just about ready to go up the walls with her boredom! If only Agent Flynn would give her one chance to prove herself, she wouldn't have to endure any more codes and data for awhile – or at least until Jack's permanent replacement was found.

That was the exact thought on her mind when she took on the after-hours mission that came through. She could prove herself – and if she couldn't… well then, Howard had sufficient pull in the SSR if she got herself into too much hot water…

And, boy, did he ever use it! She thought gleefully as she walked out of the SSR with her head held high the next day. Howard wanted her in Washington, D.C. – to run what the genius was now calling SHIELD.

SHIELD! The name was one of the first updates that she knew Howard had in mind for the SSR, but he'd somehow managed to leave out the fact that he wanted her to help run the organization! They were going to have a discussion about that little omission very soon!

As she walked to the elevator, she was surprised when Daniel and Jack came out of the respective offices they'd been assigned because of the shifting that came with Jack's demotion.

She raised her eyebrow at the expressions of the smiling men who stayed a step behind her, but didn't speak until the elevator doors had closed behind the trio. "You knew this was coming, didn't you?"

"Eddie warned us a little something nice might be happening soon," Daniel admitted sheepishly, taking one of her hands as Jack snagged the suitcase she'd carried with her and held onto it and her now-free hand.

"Hm, I'll have to have words with him about that soon."

"Sooner than you'd think, maybe?" Jack asked knowingly.

"Why? What else do you know?" she asked her husband.

He shrugged. Daniel dropped her hand from his own the moment before the elevator doors slid open again and Jack tugged her happily into the street outside the "telephone company" – where Eddie was waiting for them with a car door open and a cheeky grin on his face.

"Congratulations, Miss Carter," he said cheerfully.

Just to sass the man who was Howard's butler and one of her seven soulmates, Peggy opened the passenger side door and slid in, declaring, "That's 'Agent Carter', thank you!"

"Actually," Jack corrected, getting in the back with Daniel. "I think it's 'Director Carter' now, isn't it?"

Peggy's smile widened as she repeated, "Director Carter. Peggy Carter, director of SHIELD. I like it!"

"SHIELD?" Eddie repeated curiously, as he got into the driver's seat and pressed the gas pedal. "Isn't that Mr. Stark's new title for the SSR?"

Peggy nodded, offering, "I think he likes it because it reminds him of Steve."

"To my knowledge that is part of it, yes," Eddie confirmed. "He has seemed especially focused on finding Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes since the latter… popped back up. He's not having any such luck, I'm afraid."

"Then we'll have to see about getting him…" Peggy trailed off, uncertain of how to phrase what she wanted to say.

Eddie supplied evenly, "Stable."

Peggy nodded and took the hand that the butler had been resting against his thigh, looking around at their passing surroundings and purposely changing the subject as she asked, "This isn't the way back to our house; where are we going?"

"Anna and Angie are going to have the house to themselves for a week," Eddie revealed as if this news were nothing unusual. "The four of us are going to Mr. Stark's private airstrip and then taking a plane to Washington."

"So that's why he didn't ask you to come with him when he left for DC himself;" Peggy mused. "You all already knew that you'd be coming along in two days' time anyway!"

"We did," Jack answered saucily.

Peggy rolled her eyes, teasing dryly, "I hate the lot of you."

"Well, we love you," Eddie reminded her, kissing her knuckles without ever even taking his eyes off of the road.

"And, you know," Jack pointed out, "For a woman who is surrounded by people she hates, you sure are smiling an awful lot."

"I'm allowed to smile;" Peggy objected, getting even more excited as the reality of the words about to come out of her mouth began to sink in as she said, "I'm becoming a bloody co-director of SHIELD!"

* * *

That day was one of the proudest times in Peggy's life, even one of what one might call her high points and it changed her entire world. She took over Jack's old position and more as the agency expanded, and as far as she could within a job such as hers, she established a routine life. That routine wasn't broken for decades – until the late eighties when time caught up with her and her soulmates began to pass away.


	2. Chapter 2

_1990_

Daniel was the first to go, thanks to the fact that his health had never been entirely the same after the war, and Angie followed not long after. Then Anna passed away, and Peggy and Jack just barely managed to keep Edwin from killing  _himself_ – reminding him that  _they_ still needed him, and that Tony needed him as he was practically the only  _real_  father figure Howard's only child had ever known. But the butler wasn't the same without his wife, and he died only a week after Jack did, five people dead within the space of two years.

The only reason Peggy made herself keep going was because of SHIELD, because of her determination to watch the organization grow and become all she knew it could be. In a way it was like protecting Steve's blood all those years ago – SHIELD was the final piece that she had of the life that she and her soulmates had lived, and she didn't want to leave it.

So one by one, Peggy had watched her soulmarks fade away, watched Steve's and Bucky's stay exactly where they were, and wondered what it could mean… She was an old woman herself now, surely it was becoming rather a vain pipedream to think that Steve and Bucky might  _still_ be out there somewhere, wasn't it? But then, that stubborn hope that they were was something else that she didn't want to leave behind.

Before she was quite able to comprehend what had happened, Peggy was left alone in a cemetery, staring at a line of five graves – two of which were achingly fresh – with tears streaming down her face.

"Hey, Peg," a familiar voice said solemnly behind her, laying a hand on her shoulder.

She'd heard him coming, but the touch still made another sob well up in her throat. Even Howard, who was the closest friend that she had outside of her now-deceased soulmates, couldn't give her the comfort that she needed, and for her that fact only highlighted just how alone she was once again.

"We're going to find them, you know," he said absently, staring at the graves over her shoulder.

By now she knew without question that he was talking about Steve and Bucky. Bucky's showing up and shooting Jack had thrown Howard for a serious loop that had descended into an alcoholic spiral somewhere along the way – one that she, her soulmates, and even Howard's own wife had often felt helpless to stop even as he refused to give up his search for the legendary soldiers. The part of her that had always worried for Howard had hoped that marrying Maria and getting the gift of a child might temper his… obsession with finding Steve and Bucky/ Regrettably, that hadn't happened – not even a little – and in the end, Eddie and Anna had gone so far as to become surrogate parents to Tony.

The old promise of finding the men connected to her two remaining soulmarks burned anew in her heart, causing both more hope and more agony than ever before and she couldn't help the pessimistic words that sprang to mind in the middle of this desolate moment. But Howard seemed to sense her thoughts, saying firmly, "I mean it; I promise we'll see them again, one way or the other."

* * *

_December 17, 1991_

And somehow, for some reason that he couldn't identify, in the far recesses of his mind, Howard had wondered if "the other" way that he had referenced that day would be a scenario exactly like this. Sergeant Barnes –  _but not him; this was some other man (monster?) entirely_ – standing over him while he bled to death, Maria already a cooling body in the tangled wreckage that he realized sluggishly he was just as trapped in. His wife was dead, he was going to die here, and whoever Barnes had become was the one who had caused the automobile accident that was leading to his demise.

And it was only then that Howard realized that he had honestly expected something like this – and there was only one thing he could think of in that moment.

He told Barnes as much, staring up at the man, forcing himself to keep eye contact and make his vocal chords work for as long as it took to admit, "I knew it would be you. Just please tell me you're not going after Peggy too; the others are all gone."

Something  _switched_ in Barnes' dead gaze… but before he could figure out what it was, Howard's own eyes fluttered closed for the last time.

* * *

Soldier swallowed, not feeling the discomfort brought on by the smoke filling the air, not hearing the noise rise to a frenzy around him as onlookers realized who this man was.

 _Howard Stark._ He heard that many times over as he fled the scene, careful and quiet as a ghost.  _Howard Stark. Peggy._ Those names meant something important – he knew they should, he just didn't know what… but whoever those people were… he knew them.

But when he told his handler that, the only response it garnered were those two words that he hated more than anything, words that meant a world of pain that he didn't even have the life left to fight against anymore – "Wipe him."

* * *

When Howard and Maria died, Peggy and Tony took it equally hard – in Peggy's case because she'd lost what she truly felt was two of her only remaining friends… and then reports began circling that the Winter Soldier had been behind the so-called accident. Tony began to spiral in ways that reminded Peggy far too much of Howard, but – just like with his father – she had no idea how to reach him.

Tony was only twenty-one, and had suffered more loss in the past three years than anyone his age ought to be allowed. A part of Peggy wanted desperately to reach out to him – to the closest thing to family that she had left – but she didn't know how to do it without revealing the truth that Tony had never known.


	3. Chapter 3

Because of his ever-present lack of a verbal filter, Howard's son had never been let in on the fact that the six people living in one of his father's mansions were anything more than the neighbors that they appeared to be. As he'd gotten older, they'd gone out of their way to hide all their soulmarks from him and he had  _no_ idea that they were a soulmate group… yet somehow they'd all managed to form a sort of family for the boy with Eddie and Anna at the fore.

But without the butler and his wife, with Tony's newfound adoration for alcohol and Peggy's resurfacing habit of burying herself in her work, the two began to drift apart, growing distant in ways that she felt helpless to stop even when she emerged from her grief enough to try.

She wanted to help him, really she did, but she just didn't know how to go about it, especially when it came to his alcoholism.

Funny, she could imagine how each of the other five would've stopped the issue, though. Anna would let him see the tears she'd cry over it, and his guilt alone would mean that he would never touch another drop. Eddie – Peggy was pretty sure Eddie could've just  _looked_ at him and gotten the same results. Daniel and Jack – his "uncles" as Tony called them – would've taken him on together, playing a version of their classic, unbeatable game of good cop/bad cop until Tony realized they weren't going to give up until he gave them their desired result. And Aunt Angie, God bless her, would've given him a good ole Brooklyn tongue lashing – while pouring his ever growing alcohol stash down the drain – until he saw the light concerning the whole mess.

But his Aunt Peggy had no idea how to help the wild cannon that he was becoming… not even  _before_ her mind began to drift away from her.

* * *

_2010_

Tony Stark did not like feeling guilty – about anything, ever – and having lived the life he had, that was oftentimes a hard feat to achieve. That's why he preferred alcohol as often as he did. Pepper, his angel of a soulmate, never gave up on him though, and was frequently pushing him to get out of his labs and into the world.

"Even if it is just to see your aunt for a few minutes!" she'd begged yesterday.

And so here he was, walking down the halls of the nursing home, as much to get away from her –  _because, man, did they ever need to find their third!_  – as to assuage the guilt they both knew he felt over having practically ignored his aunt Peggy for months on end. But he was here now!

"Hey, Aunt Peggy!" he said too cheerfully, knocking on the doorframe as he clutched a bouquet in his other hand.

Her eyes widened, her frail frame racking with a cough at the surprise of seeing him there. Had it really been that long since he'd come to see her?! He dropped the flowers onto the bedside table, exchanging the bouquet for a glass of water that he was quick to hand to her. As he leaned over her, he was relieved to see that her eyes were clear; today was a good day for her mentally, then.

He couldn't stand the rheumy, confused look that he'd seen on her face too many times before; it scared him, made him afraid that he was on the cusp of loosing someone else. He just wasn't sure that he could bear to see her leave this world – and somehow that had translated to him subconsciously trying to block her out of his world… not that he would ever purposely consider the thought; he just didn't like seeing her like this.

"Tony!" she rasped, happily patting his hand where it had dropped to the white sheets of her bed. Then her smile slid and she must have recognized something of his thoughts because she still knew him far too well, and murmured, "It won't be long now… until I see my Jack again."

"Aunt Peg…" he chastised. "Don't say that!"

"I'm in my nineties, Tony; it's going to happen sometime."

"But not soon!" Tony protested. "I won't let that happen!" he hesitated because he really didn't like to bring this up, but he liked the way this conversation was heading even less. "Besides, what about finding Captain America and Sergeant Barnes?"

She scoffed before admitting, "I'm too old to find them, Tony… but maybe you could? Once I'm gone, there's going to be no one left trying to save them from whatever the heck they're going through, and I can't bear the idea of leaving them without anyone to care if they live or die like that. Please, Tony, promise me?"

Ah… and there was the guilt flying back at him full-force. Being around her really did turn him into some  _vulnerable_ sort of a child, and he didn't know what to think about that – but he did know what she'd just managed to talk him into, much as he already knew he was going to regret it. "Alright, Aunt Peg, I promise I'll do my best."

And he did; thank you overwhelming guilt. He went home did a boatload of research, and eventually some Iron Man flyovers over Captain America's last known location, doing scans, and even finding some new information. Just to say that he really had fulfilled his promise to his aunt, he even went so far as to pass that unearthed information onto Nick Fury.

But he certainly hadn't expected his research to end up with the results that it garnered – after nearly seventy years, Captain America was found, frozen but very much  _alive_.

* * *

_July, 2011_

"You gonna be okay?"

Nick Fury had asked him that question not two minutes ago before Steve had climbed into the black vehicle that awaited them, and he'd said "yeah," Peggy swimming in his thoughts as he replied, "Yeah, I just… I had a date."But then he'd noticed something when he sat down beside Fury in the car, and, no, he was not okay anymore.

His right elbow was pale; there was nothing but a colorless outline of those words that had once thrilled him so much: I'm not what you expected, am I, Captain?

 _No_ , this wasn't at all what he had expected.


	4. Chapter 4

Sitting there in that car beside Fury, he was hit with the sudden – and incredibly inappropriate – urge to rip off his clothes and investigate what had happened to his other five marks. Bucky's was still plain in the crease of his left elbow, and the maroon words were outlined, which meant that particular soulmate was dead – but why were they even soulmates if they were never meant to meet? – so what had happened with the other marks?

"Captain," Fury recaptured his attention. "We're taking you back to the medical facility; our doctors want to monitor you for awhile to ensure that you've had no lasting effects from your little nap."

Steve's mouth twisted into a wry smile at those last two words and he nodded since it had already been proven that he didn't really have a choice. Besides that, he was still confused and these people  _did_ seem to want to help him. For the remainder of the ride, Fury updated him on the SSR – SHIELD now, and Peggy and Howard had officially been the ones to really get the agency off the ground. Steve wanted to ask about Peggy, but there wasn't time before they reached their destination, and in short order, Steve was back in the building, being shuffled into a room and handed a hospital gown.

As soon as the door was closed behind the nurse who'd handed him the gown, Steve quickly shed all of his clothes, eyes snapping first to his left leg. The red "Recruits! Attention! Gentlemen, I am Agent Carter; I supervise all operations for this division" was still there, the red color of the words as bold as ever – so Peggy at least was still alive – and Steve nearly cried with relief.

But he nearly cried again when he looked at the other remaining marks and realized that  _five out of the seven_ were now only an outline.

No, this world – and this unexpected blow of grief at the deaths of the soulmates that he'd never even met – wasn't at all what he had expected…

Even a year later, this new version of the world he'd once been in touch with was still a surprising place… though nothing could've prepared  _anyone_ for the Norse  _god_ that made an attempt at taking over the world. Let alone could the Avengers have predicted what it would mean for them personally...

* * *

_May, 2012_

"It's a stabilizing agent!"

The words – the same ones that were scrawled along the sole of his left foot – had Bruce's head snapping around quicker than was probably safe.  _Tony Stark_ had just said those words, and, sure, in his line of work Bruce had heard them often enough... but they'd never before been the  _first_ words that someone had directed at him.

Was there a chance that Tony Stark was _– no,_ he stopped that train of thought firmly. They had a much bigger problem at play here, plus, considering the big guy, Bruce wasn't exactly soulmate material for  _anyone_. It would be best to just focus on the real issue at hand.

Tony continued talking and Bruce waited until he saw an opportunity before he said directly to the billionaire, "Well, if he could do that, he could achieve the heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

Tony's eyes widened just the smallest amount as he gestured towards Bruce, saying with a hint of relief in his voice, "Finally, someone who speaks English." The smile he gave Bruce was genuine; the handshake he offered was warm and firm as he said, "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled, and I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a giant green rage monster."

"Thanks," Bruce replied uncomfortably.

There was a double entendre to half the words that had just come out of Tony's mouth, thanks to the audience that they were both painfully aware of. His original "finally," the "it's good to meet you," and in some way he'd even tried to assure Bruce that he was okay with the "other guy" being around. And in some ways, that just made it worse for Bruce. The whole world knew that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were soulmates – but he certainly hadn't known that they had a third.

What he  _did_ know, however, was that they didn't deserve to have to deal with him being that third. So he wouldn't make them. He would do his best to play it off – even to Tony – as if he hadn't just met his soulmate, and hope that Tony would leave him alone about it. He'd heard enough to know that wouldn't last, but so long as it could hold until Bruce could hightail it out of here, that would be enough.

No matter what he wanted – no matter how much he hated the idea of being alone – he had to put his soulmates first, and that might very well mean pretending that they weren't soulmates at all.

* * *

Tony cornered him at the shawarma joint, dragging Bruce over to the counter to order for their group. After they'd placed the order, while they were standing there waiting for it to be filled, Tony whispered, "Alright, what gives?"

Bruce mentally steeled himself, put on his most convincing innocent expression and asked, "What do you mean?"

"You said my soulmark words when we met!"

Bruce barely managed to keep his voice from shaking, to keep the appropriate tone in place as he asked, "Did I? I'm sorry, Tony, but… I… I don't even have a soulmark."

The way Bruce looked away as he spoke could've been translated as unwillingness to discuss a painful topic – which was exactly what was happening – and he hoped Tony took it that way.

"Oh," Tony muttered, proving that he had, as the man behind the counter placed their orders in front of them. "Friends anyway, then?"

"Of course." Bruce snatched up half of the baskets of shawarma and turned away before he could see the disappointed slouch of the other man's shoulders.

He'd just done what needed to be done for his soulmates' safety… but he hadn't expected it to hurt  _quite_ so much as it had.


	5. Chapter 5

"Honey, I'm home!" Tony called out cheerfully, throwing open the door to his Malibu house. Maybe it was cruel to not have told Pepper he was coming back home, but, hey, she liked surprises, right?

He really hoped so, considering who was walking into the house behind him – the product of the ridiculous number of hours it had taken to convince Bruce to move in with him and Pepper.

"Tony!" Pepper shrieked, flying down the staircase so quickly she nearly tripped on her own two feet.

He met her at the last step and she crashed into him, kissing him feverishly. "Hey!" he chuckled breathily when she finally let him come up for air, his periphery catching the way Bruce looked away from the two of them, face flushing as his hands clenched at his sides. "I  _am_ still alive, you know."

"Just barely!" she cried, slapping him in the chest. "Jarvis already read me your medical reports; you almost  _died_ out there, Tony!"

Tears glistened in her eyes, so Tony pulled her in for a hug, reminding, "But I didn't." Pepper mumbled nothing in particular, burying her face in the crook of his neck as a few wet tears slipped out. "Hey," he murmured, rubbing her back. "I have someone I want you to meet."

She stiffened, apparently realizing for the first time that they had an audience and instantly straightened, wiping her wide eyes self-consciously.

"You're gorgeous," Tony assured her, taking her hand in his own as they turned towards Bruce and he asked, "Don't you think so, Bruce?"

Both Bruce and Pepper looked at him like he'd lost his mind and the poor doctor flushed even darker as he managed an encouraging smile in Pepper's direction – without saying a word. Suspicious...

"Bruce, this is Pepper Potts, the best soulmate anyone could ever ask for," Tony declared. "Pep, this is Dr. Bruce Banner… and he's agreed to come live with us."

Bruce nodded at Pepper again, still not opening his mouth as Pepper shot an alarmed look in Tony's direction before she recovered her composer and said to Bruce, "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Banner. Jarvis can show you to a suite, if you'd like."

Bruce nodded, but Tony  _knew_ he saw pain flash through the man's dark eyes as he scuffed his right foot subconsciously against the hardwood floor.

"Jarvis," Pepper called out, without a clue in the world.

"Right this way, Dr. Banner," the AI called out. "Into the elevator on your left, if you would."

As soon as the elevator doors had slid closed behind the doctor, Pepper looked to Tony, her eyes demanding an answer that he was all too eager to give.

"You are never going to  _believe_ what happened!" Tony declared to Pepper the first moment they were alone together. "I met our third – Dr. Banner! He said my words the first time we met!"

Pepper shrieked with excitement – an emotion that quickly fell away as she asked, "Then why didn't he say anything to me?"

"I don't know," Tony said, frustration lacing his words as he scrubbed his hands across his eyes. "When I asked him about it, he even went so far as to tell me that he didn't even have a soulmark. But I know that's not true."

"How?"

"I may or may not have kind of hacked into SHIELD and a part of what Jarvis stuck back for me was the personnel files on all of the Avengers, which include pictures of their soulmarks – which Bruce has, and they are definitely yours and mine."

"Then why deny it?" Pepper asked again, looking more and more crushed the longer Tony spoke.

Tony shook his head, pulling her close again as he said, "The best thing I can come up with is that he's still scared of the big guy – but he even went out of his way to protect me in Manhattan!"

"What are we going to do?"

She was close to tears now and Tony hated it, but he genuinely didn't have a clue. "I work with tech, Pep; I'm not good with people, that's your area of expertise. I was hoping you'd have an idea. The best I've come up with is just to make friends with him and show him that I'm not afraid of him or the Hulk."

"Then that's what we'll do," Pepper decided, sounding a little desperate and a whole lot at a loss. "We'll just have to give him time. I don't see how we can do anything else…"

She dropped her head onto his shoulder and for the second time in ten minutes, she burst into tears.

* * *

This had been a mistake – agreeing to move in with Tony and Pepper – Bruce realized hopelessly, leaning against the wall of the elevator to catch his breath. Tony  _knew_ he had lied, he was sure of it now, and he wanted to panic because of it – and that was the exact reason that he shouldn't be here. He couldn't panic; the other guy would come out and hurt his soulmates and tat would be the death of him.

But now that he'd met them – now that he  _was_ here and going to live with them, he honestly didn't know if he had it in him to walk away. Tony still wanted him nearby even with the "other guy" looming and Pepper was – well, Tony was right – gorgeous, far more beautiful in person then the camera claimed.

But he wouldn't –  _couldn't_ – let himself think those thoughts. For as long as he could, he wouldn't speak to Pepper, and even then he'd hold to his claim of having no soulmark even if they all did know better. Much as it killed him, they were just going to have to remain what Tony had offered in the schawarma joint: friends.


	6. Chapter 6

_June, 2012_

_Asgard_

"Perhaps," Frigga suggested carefully to her husband. "Receiving the knowledge of Sigyn's murder will be enough of a punishment for Loki?"

Odin snorted. "He never cared for his wife; it was nothing but a political match and frivolous guise for him, we all know that."

"But still, his wife was murdered for his actions. Knowing she fell at the hands of angry Asgardian rioters-"

"Is going to bring him nothing but relief. He did not love her, he'd long grown tired of her, they weren't even soulmates. Sigyn's death has no bearing on his life whatsoever, save except – as I said – as a sort of relief, a problem that he no longer has to contend with." Odin lowered his head into his hands, moaning, "How to punish one so… twisted as he?"

Frigga winced, deciding not to once again bring up the fact that Loki still claimed mind control had played a part in his actions and not noticing for a moment that Odin had raised his head slowly, a spark of an idea flashing behind his eyes as he murmured. "A solitary prison cell means nothing to someone who enjoys being alone and learning day in and day out… but making him do good and be among people, Midgardians, getting to know and be considerate of them – that would be more torture to him than anything else I could concoct!"

"Then what exactly  _are_ you concocting?" Frigga asked curiously.

The rarest beginnings of a smile flickered at the edges of Odin's mouth as he asked her, "What if we were to turn Loki into a matchmaker?"

"What?!" Frigga choked out.

"The… Avengers, they call themselves – Heimdall has told me a little of them. Some of them are in contact with their soulmates but are having issues acknowledging their bonds as they ought. Surely Loki with all of his tricks could make that happen – give them their happiness where he tried to steal their very lives! Isn't that a more perfect sort of recompense then rotting away with his books?!"

Frigga stared at him, blinked once, twice, before an adoring smile grew on her face and she spoke words only she could get away with, "This is so ridiculous it just might work, you crazy old man."

"Oh, my dear," Odin grinned at her, a smile that – when he allowed it – was just as mischievous as his wayward son's – "You have no idea." Suddenly he called out to the guard standing silently at the doorway, "Call Loki to my throne room; it is time for him to receive his judgment."

* * *

"This is… is  _lunacy_!" Loki cried, daring even while kneeling in front of his father in chains.

"Perhaps it is," Odin allowed calmly. "But it is still my ruling and you  _will_ follow through with it. You would do well to listen to the information I have to give and then make a plan of action."

"Do you not  _realize_ ," Loki continued to seethe. "That what you are asking me to do will require me to  _take up residence_ in Midgard? They will  _kill_ me – or is that what you want?"

"It is not," Odin snapped hotly. "My desire is for you to do exactly as I've asked you to, and if you believe that requires relocation to Midgard, then so be it."

Loki growled deep in his throat, and the growl emerged in the form of words as he asked with a touch of resignation buried under all the unhappiness in his voice, "The 'information' you mentioned?"

"You'll want to know who is soulmates with whom. Agents Barton and Romanoff-"

"I already know about them," Loki said impatiently, rolling his eyes.

"Very well," Odin continued. "According to Heimdall, Tony Stark has already met his female soulmate, Virginia Potts, and has recently met their third who is being a bit resistant when it comes to acknowledging their bond. He refuses to even meet Miss Potts."

"Dr. Banner," Loki drawled, not about to admit that it was only a guess.

"Yes," Odin sighed, growing equally impatient with Loki as the trickster was with him and deciding, "Since you appear to know so much about the situation, perhaps you do not need my input after all. Complete your mission in full and I will consider your punishment complete as well. I'm going to give you free reign to do as you wish as the means to the end, but understand this: if you hurt  _anyone_ in  _any_ realm, you will be back on Asgard and facing a guillotine. Do we understand one another?"

Loki shrugged carelessly – he'd really expected death anyway; anything less was something of a pleasant surprise – "Very well."

"Then be off with you," Odin ordered.

Frigga, who had been standing silently at her husband's side, flicked her wrist once and Loki's chains dropped with a loud clatter onto the floor. Nodding to Odin and managing to smile thinly at his mother, Loki turned on his heel and started making his way towards Heimdall… who would deliver him into Midgard and the midst of this stupid punishment Odin had concocted.

Thor met him right outside the throne room, asking, "Where are you going? Why are you free? What did Father say?"

"I am going," Loki bit out unhappily, not stopping for Thor to catch up with him as he walked. "To Midgard – to the newly-built Avengers Tower, if you'd be so kind as to put in a good word for me. I'm free because the All-Father all but declared me so, as long as I complete a few tasks in Midgard." Loki turned, walking backwards as he looked his brother in the eye and answered his last question. "As for what his verdict was,  _that, dear brother,_ is none of your concern."

Then Loki froze in his tracks, nearly tripping over his own two feet as his eyes widened while a realization hit him. The All-Father wanted him to put every one of the Avengers in a position to live a happy life with their soulmate – or apparently, in the case of Stark and Banner, soulmate _s_  – and… Thor was now considered an Avenger.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony looked Thor dead in the eye, declaring as if he was talking to someone who was slow, "You… are… out… of… your… mind." Thor opened his mouth to refute that, but Tony wasn't done, and he was suddenly screaming, "Construction on this tower was  _just_ completed. You smell that? That is the smell of fresh paint in my multi-million-dollar pet project, and you want me to let you drop  _Loki_ into it?! The rest of us have only just gotten settled in here; why would I throw him into the mix – or let him anywhere near me – or any of the team, for that matter?!"

"Because," Thor explained patiently. "It's apparently a part of the punishment that Father has decided on for him."

"Punishment for who, exactly?" Clint snapped from an air vent.

Thor's gaze shot towards the sound in confusion, forehead wrinkled in confusion, and Tony rolled his eyes, ordering, "Don't ask… but  _do_ tell me why your crazy brother wants this place for home base."

"From what little he'll tell me, Father's sent him with a bit of a… I believe you would call it a 'to-do' list, and Loki believes that this is the easiest base of operations for that. All he requires is sufficient sustenance and a room in which to sleep."

Tony stared at him for a long time, thinking the request through, before his eyes narrowed with an idea and he repeated, "A room. Alright. We can do that."

"Wonderful! Loki's waiting in the elevator."

Tony's eyes blew wide and his mouth opened to shout again, but he just as quickly thought better of it for once, slamming his mouth down into a thin line and saying with a sigh, "Of course he is. Go ahead and open the elevator, Jarvis – and next time warn a guy!"

"Of course, sir," the AI responded, and as the elevator opened he added, "My apologies. Perhaps I could suggest assigning Loki the final bedroom on Thor's floor?"

 _The one that didn't even have drywall, insulation sticking out everywhere…_ Tony grinned. "Perfect idea, Jarvis!" Loki stepped out of the elevator and Tony turned towards him, saying blandly, "Get back in the elevator, let Jarvis, the artificial intelligence – the voice in the walls – direct you to your room, and stay there until your whatever-job is done and you can get out of here. I don't want to see you around; the only reason you're here is because Point Break has the ability to ask for things more nicely then you do."

"You want to see me no more than I want to see you," Loki answered, grinding his teeth as he took the requested step backwards. When the doors were closed and the contraption moving once again, Loki muttered to himself, "Why am I doing this again?"

"Because you're smart enough to see it as the way out of a death sentence?" the wall answered.

Loki jumped, startled, before he remembered the AI that Stark had mentioned. Of course. "Indeed," Loki mused quietly. "Now all I have to do is decide where to start."

"It's my job to assist the residential residents of the Tower in any way I can should you require my assistance," the AI said. "Could I be of service in helping you make your decision?"

"Not if you're going to instantly report all of this back to your master."

"I do have the option of deleting from my memory conversations that I deem inappropriate for Mr. Stark."

"So you're saying that he wouldn't hear what I said?"

"I'm saying that I have the option to make it so that he didn't, yes, if I choose to employ that option."

"Is it possible," Loki asked dryly. "That you, the computer, are biased against me as well?"

"I'm much more than a computer, and Mr. Stark has made my programming quite thorough. When he says I have my own artificial intelligence, he means it."

"I will take that as an affirmative."

"Take it however you wish, the offer for assistance still stands." The doors to the elevator slid open and Jarvis declared, "We're currently alone on this floor. It was meant solely for your brother but has five bedrooms and three bathrooms in all. Your bedroom is the door at the back of the right hallway. I'm afraid there's not exactly any furniture in it yet."

"And yet you recommended it for me; you do hate me after all." Foregoing the idea of investigating his "room" for the moment, Loki folded himself onto the couch in the common room that the elevator had opened at and declared, "It wasn't my fault, you know."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Thanos controlled my mind much as I did Agent Barton's through Thanos' staff… yet Agent Barton walks free and forgiven and I am ordered to pay a price."

"I've already offered my assistance concerning whatever decision you say you have to make," the AI reminded. "I need information or orders in able to be able to do any more than that."

"Very well," Loki sighed, spilling the entire story – from finding out about his Jotun heritage to being sent here to "play matchmaker" – in a rush that left him breathless and heady and… feeling oddly better. He ended his tirade with, "In regards to my so-called mission, where would you suggest I start, Mr. Jarvis?"

"Where you're familiar," the AI replied. "With Agents Barton and Romanoff."

"And how exactly am I supposed to go about that?"

The AI paused for a beat, considering or computing or whatever it was that he did, until he asked, "To my knowledge, Agent Barton hasn't seen the footage of Agent Romanoff interrogating you."

" _Why_ is that relevant?"

"She cried, didn't she? Maybe those tears were even shed for him? In any case, I've noticed that a woman's tears tend to move her soulmate. Perhaps that's the only push they need to sit down and just  _discuss_ their relationship?"

Loki dropped his head back against the couch, hoping that maybe it really would be that simple. He could be out of here a lot sooner that way.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, against Stark's very direct orders to stay away from his team, Loki waited until Thor had disappeared from his level – he'd seemed to decide that he was going to stay on Midgard until Loki could return to Asgard – and then the trickster asked the ceiling, "JARVIS, could you tell Agent Barton I'd like to speak to him privately? If you must… tell him I want to apologize to him personally."

"I'll see what I can do," was all the AI promised, but he must've been a persuasive device because it only took an hour of coercing for Barton to drop down from the air vents and land in front of the couch where Loki was once again lazing.

The trickster had long asked JARVIS to pull up the interrogation footage, so it was waiting paused on a hologram in the middle of the room, when Barton landed between it and the couch.

"Apology not accepted," Barton snapped, body drawn as tightly as the bow and arrow that he held at the ready in his hands.

"I didn't expect it would be," Loki admitted, sitting up straight and gesturing to the hologram. "I'm after something else entirely."

"Figures," Barton snorted, his expression still hard. "What might that be?"

Loki paused before admitting lightly, "Love."

Barton raised his eyebrows and took a step back, declaring, "Whatever you think went on between the two of us, it wasn't  _that_. I don't remember everything, but I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered that!"

"Oh, by the gods, no!" Loki exclaimed in horror. Getting Barton to see things the way Loki needed him to was going to take a little… addition to facts, though, the god realized. He relaxed his posture and kneading his hands together, elbows on his knees as he admitted carefully, "You see… my wife died this week – because of my misdeeds on Midgard… and I thought of you and your soulmate."

"Did you now?"

"You know that she loves you, don't you? Your Agent Romanoff?"

"She would've never told you that," Barton snarled.

"Ah, no," Loki agreed. "She didn't. As a matter of fact, she told me that love was for children and she merely owed you a debt." Barton ground his jaw, irritation – not at Loki, either – flashing through his eyes at words that were apparently familiar to him, as the god added, "She even cried for you."

"Natasha doesn't cry for anything but effect," Barton corrected.

"Perhaps not, but her only concern when we talked was for you, and that's the entire truth."

"We're partners, of course she was worried."

"You're  _soulmates_!" Loki shot back. "You shouldn't downplay that, and you shouldn't put it aside or wait for a better time to live like it, because quite frankly in your line of work you may not live to see tomorrow. Don't waste today when you have someone you love, someone who loves you. Not everyone is so lucky."

"Why the heck would you care?" Barton snarled.

"I don't, not truly," Loki said candidly, cutting to the truth. "But if you want me gone, then this is part of the All-Father's verdict – happily ever after for the Midgardians!"

Barton snorted, looking suddenly amused as he asked, "So I'm supposed to, what, get Tasha roses? She'd cut my arm off and stab the thorns in my eyes."

"For Norn's sake,  _speak_  to her about it!  _Tell_ her that you care for her!  _Treat_ her like a soulmate – not just a partner – whatever that means for the two of you!"

"And then you'll disappear?"

"I'll be one step closer to leaving," Loki corrected.

"Fine," Barton agreed, turning and stalking back to the air vent and swinging up into it. "I'll do it."

"You have my thanks," Loki muttered under his breath, relaxing back onto the couch.

When Barton was out of earshot, JARVIS commented, "You didn't even  _use_ the footage."

"They don't call me 'Silver tongue' for nothing," Loki smirked.

Ten feet down the air ducts, Barton said quietly, "Hey, JARVIS?"

"Yes, Agent Barton?"

Clint licked his lips nervously, realizing what he was about to set in motion. "Could you set up a reservation for two at some restaurant tonight? Something fancy… and Russian."

"I'll have the reservation to you within the hour."

"Oh, and JARVIS?"

"Yes?"

"Can you get me… a dozen… daisies?"

Clint could've sworn there was a  _smile_ in the AI's voice as he answered, "As you wish."

* * *

The next morning after Thor had once again disappeared, Loki asked JARVIS, "How's Barton?"

"He and Agent Romanoff went out to dinner last night… and have yet to emerge from Agent Barton's room this morning. Something about what was said yesterday resonated enough to get them to see the light. I'd say you've completed your mission where they're concerned."

"Brilliant! That was easier than I thought it would be. Who do you suggest next?"

"Dr. Banner."

"And what exactly do you suggest for him?"

"I confess I've been pondering this one on my own for awhile. Mr. Stark and Miss Potts need him to enter fully into the relationship for the sake of their own bond. I believe the issues between them could be solved by having a completed bond with their third, but Dr. Banner has so far been successful in avoiding even speaking to Miss Potts."

"Well, I guess that's as good a place as any to start."

"Good luck with that."

"Didn't you learn anything of my abilities from yesterday?"

"Yes, but I've also seen the footage of what the Hulk can do to you."

Loki shuddered, saying only, "Then I'll simply tread carefully. How does Miss Potts feel about his avoiding her?"

"It hurts her, of course."

"I can work with that. Could you alert me when Dr. Banner has a moment alone, please?"

"He's currently by himself in the training room doing tai chi, if you'd like me to take you there."

Loki swallowed nervously –  _did he really have to face Dr. Banner? Wouldn't Miss Potts be a much safer person to talk to?_ – before he said resignedly, "Very well."

"In you go then," the AI said a little too happily for Loki's tastes as the elevator doors slid open.


	9. Chapter 9

 “I have a better idea!” Loki said suddenly, midway to the training level. “Where is Miss Potts?”

“Currently showing Captain Rogers around the Tower,” JARVIS answered obligingly.

“Tell her that Tony needs her in Dr. Banner’s labs… and tell Dr. Banner that Stark needs him there as well. And take me there.”

“This sounds like you _want_ to see the Hulk.”

“That’s what I’m trying to avoid. Now cooperate!”

“As you wish…” JARVIS drawled.

Two minutes later, Miss Potts was hurrying into the lab, a panicked look in her eye, as apparently Tony needing her in the lab for one disastrous reason or another was nothing new.

She skidded to a stop a yard in the doorway when she realized that Loki was alone in the room, demanding sharply, “What do you want?”

“To help you.” Before he could elaborate, Dr. Banner was racing into the area as well, and before the doctor could even register who was actually there with him, Loki magicked himself to stand in front of the door, closing it and hearing the resolute snick of the door sealing itself – sealing the three of them in. In this instance, Loki didn’t beat around the bush, didn’t even bother fibbing, he just stated outright, “You’re hurting your soulmates, Dr. Banner. I suspect that’s what you’ve been trying to avoid in keeping your distance, but in doing so, you’re harming them in other ways entirely. You need to talk to her – to both of them about this mess, honestly, but Miss Potts seemed like the best place to start.”

“What is this supposed to be about?” Miss Potts asked him angrily. “Where’s Tony?”

“How should I know? This was a mere ruse that I knew you both would respond to.”

Dr. Banner moved to stand partially in front of Miss Potts, angling himself so that Loki couldn’t get to her as she continued questioning him, “You said you wanted to help me; how exactly do you plan on doing that?”

“By getting him to talk to you. It’s past time, don’t you think?”

Miss Potts’ eyes flickered agonizingly towards Dr. Banner and Loki saw her swallow before the doctor bit out, “Why exactly do you care?”

“Because I want to go home and this is the sentence the All-Father is forcing me to carry out in order to do so. Like I told Barton: happily ever after for the Avengers.”

“So you’re the one who got Clint and Natasha to go on that date…” Miss Potts said, actually sounding a little awed.

“In a manner of speaking,” Loki shrugged.  “It didn’t take much coercion. I’m fairly certain they were both tired of pretending and just needed someone to give them a shove in the right direction, which I did easily enough.” Loki raised his eyebrows then, piquing, “Your turn!” And before any of them could blink, he’d magicked himself from inside the room with them to standing directly _outside_ the door. “You two are staying in that lab until you’ve talked and figured your relationship out in a manner that makes all of you – including Stark – happy.”

He dropped a spell over the door just for extra insurance that they wouldn’t be going anywhere and asked the ceiling, “Can I trust you to watch over them until they’ve done as I’ve asked?”

“Of course,” JARVIS replied. “Although, if this was my plan, I would’ve locked Mr. Stark in there with them.”

“All in good time,” Loki said. “One on one means Dr. Banner won’t feel so… ganged-up on. But if you’d like to tell me when you believe adding Stark to the mix is a good idea, then I’ll oblige you.”

* * *

“You have got to be kidding me!” Bruce muttered to himself, raking a hand through his hair as he watched Loki retreat.

“It’s not a horrible idea, you know,” Pepper pointed out softly.

It was far from the first time that she’d spoken to him – both she and Tony had tried to draw words from him too many times to count in the past month – but he had never spoken to her. His silence felt like his last line of defense against crumbling and completely giving in, and he didn’t want that.

No… he did! He wanted it more than anything, but he _couldn’t_ allow it! For the safety of his soulmates, he wouldn’t give in… no matter how much he wanted to.

“Do you realize how desperate this makes Tony and I look?” Pepper asked, sinking down onto Bruce’s desk chair. Tears were gathering in her eyes already and Bruce nearly groaned at the sight.  Her voice outright cracked as she continued, “How desperate we _are_? Bruce, we _need_ you! You know how Tony can be; he’s exasperating and mouthy and wild and I’m… exasperating and professional and put together and we _need_ someone to balance us out before the two of us fall apart here! We’ve been this way for a couple of years, and we’re really at a breaking point, especially considering the changes brought on by the Avengers. The three of us _have_ to be there for each other, now more than ever, or we’re going to go our separate ways entirely…” The first tear slid down her cheek as she admitted, “I can’t handle this unless I have both of you helping me along just as much as I promise to try and help you. Please…” she whispered.

Bruce blinked, looking away so she wouldn’t see the agony swimming in his eyes.

And her floodgates broke: huge, gulping sobs as she screamed raggedly at him, “ _Talk to me!_ ”

With that, Bruce was done fighting what he felt for Pepper and Tony. Fate had given him these two people for a reason, and he couldn’t _not_ love them like he wanted to. He couldn’t continue to live his like this – without kissing Pepper or allowing himself to be as much of a friend to Tony as Tony had become to him. It was unnatural, and he had no idea how Clint and Natasha had held out for as long as they had. Maybe the stress of staying apart was the reason the dynamic duo argued so frequently…


	10. Chapter 10

Those musings were fast and fleeting as Bruce marched over and dropped to his knees in front of Pepper, taking her hands in his as he murmured, “Don’t cry; Tony’s right, you’re too beautiful for that. I’m here for you – both of you – now, and I’m staying.”

Those words brought on a fresh wave of her tears even as a smile transformed her face and she threw her arms around him – only for both of them to realize that he’d rushed up here so quickly that he’d forgone putting his shirt back on. The piece of clothing was still folded and waiting for him in the training area, but he was here… alone with his soulmate… who’s expression had suddenly turned into something far more _suggestive_ then he would’ve ever imagined on “professional and put together” Pepper Potts.

So what was a man to do but haul her in for a kiss?

* * *

The elevator was just then stopping at Thor’s level again, Loki standing inside the contraption, when JARVIS said, “I believe now would be a good time to summon Mr. Stark to Dr. Banner’s lab.”

“I’ll leave that at your discretion, I suppose,” Loki mused. “But do you really think it’s a good idea already?”

“As I told you last night, a woman’s tears are oftentimes quick to move her soulmate.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Loki muttered, stepping off of the elevator as he asked, “Who do you think should be next on our list?”

“Your brother,” JARVIS suggested. “He should be a simple enough case. He and Dr. Foster are already happy, except for the fact that miles separate them.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Ask Mr. Stark if he would permit the doctor and her intern to move into the Tower to live with Thor.”

“Wouldn’t he accept that request better from you?”

“Oh, absolutely… but it hardly seems fair for me to undertake completion of your punishment any more than I already am.”

“I beg your pardon!”

“My advice _has_ played a crucial part in your success.”

“So you’re making me ask him myself just to prove that you _do_ still hate me,” Loki decided.

“I’m making you ask him yourself so that you’re earning your own way and getting out of this apartment.”

“I _just_ left this apartment!”

“For five entire minutes in three days now. At three days’ time I would be forcing Mr. Stark to take care of himself as well.”

“I am not your precious little Stark!”

“I truly believe that you have no idea how very similar the two of you are.”

“You are an _extremely_ brassy machine – to the point of foolish!”

 “Because you know how to dismantle me?” the AI asked, and this time Loki _knew_ he was being taunted.

“Shut up,” Loki ordered sourly, stepping back into the elevator. “And take me to Stark.”

“I don’t think you want that,” JARVIS commented. “Mr. Stark has now joined Miss Potts and Dr. Banner on the doctor’s lab, and they’re finally beginning to sort out how things are between the three of them… I wouldn’t suggest attempting to contact him for the next… forty-eight hours.”

“Forty-e-!” Loki groaned. “Oh for the love of the Norns!”

“What can I say?” JARVIS asked, obviously still teasing him as he stepped _back_ off the elevator. “It appears that we make a good team, Mr. Odinson.”

“Don’t call me that; the All-Father is apparently all-but-my-father.”

“Speaking of Father,” Thor’s rumbling, and obviously displeased, voice came from the kitchen doorway and Loki whipped guiltily around to face him – and Sif was here too, apparently! “He needs me back on Asgard.”

“Then go,” Loki replied, rocking back on his heels and not asking questions.

“He’s fallen into the Odin’s sleep and requires one of us to rule in his stead until he awakes.”

“Already?!”

“He wasn’t allowed to rest as much as he ought to have last time,” Thor explained. “Due to Laufey’s invasion.”

“I remember it,” Loki drawled. “Then you should go. How long do you predict you’ll be away?”

“Mother and Lady Sif predict that he’ll awake in the spring of 2014.” Thor paused, apparently getting an idea as he turned to Sif and asked, “You said that Mother asked for one of her sons to come home; were those her exact words?”

“Yes,” Sif answered slowly, shifting nervously as she glanced at Loki.

“Why?” the trickster asked. “What are you thinking?”

“That I would much prefer to remain here on Midgard and assist in calming this realm after the destruction caused in the city… besides that, Jane is here, and I’m rather fond of the idea that you’ve come up with concerning her living here.”

Loki half expected JARVIS to speak up and correct the thunder god, tell him that he’d come up with the idea, not Loki, but he stayed silent in the walls and Loki asked instead, “What _exactly_ are you thinking, brother?”

“That perhaps you could rule Asgard instead of myself; you do need to reclaim the trust of the people of our home planet, do you not?”

“Thor,” Loki groaned at the same time as Sif yelped in alarm, “My lord!”

“For what it’s worth, I agree with Thor.”

“ _Now_ you speak!” Loki snapped at the ceiling.

“Also,” JARVIS continued pointedly. “For what it’s worth, going in his stead would make Thor and Dr. Foster very happy, don’t you think, Loki?”

“I thought you wanted me here to talk to Stark!” Loki shot back, unable to believe that he was arguing with a piece of Midgardian technology – and apparently losing, at that!

“Asgard takes precedence over your personal preferences, Loki,” Thor said firmly. “I can talk to Stark myself. I thought you might be interested in the idea of me giving you a chance to redeem yourself in the eyes of our people.”

 “They are _your_ people,” Loki snapped. “I am a _Jotun_ , and I didn’t _do_ anything – not of my own volition; I was coerced.”

“Then prove it,” Thor replied evenly. “Go back to Asgard and rule well these next two years. That will go a long way towards convincing me, Mother, and the people, and when Father awakes – if you’ve done well – we will speak highly of you for it. Put whatever mission Father gave you to the side for now and prove yourself in this way.”

Loki stared for a very long while at the man that he’d grown up with before he muttered, “Very well.”


	11. Chapter 11

 “Tony!” Thor cried jubilantly when he saw Tony two days later – just as the voice called JARVIS had predicted. “I have something to ask of you.”

“What’s that, Point Break?” Tony asked cheerfully, coming off of the elevator and into the common area with Miss Potts and Dr. Banner and slinging one arm around the waist of each as they settled on a couch.

“I would like for my soulmate, Jane, and her companions, Darcy and Dr. Selvig, to move into my quarters in the Tower.”

“Soulmate, huh? Where are they from – planet-wise?”

“Midgard – they reside in England, currently. Surely you know of Dr. Selvig at least?”

“One of the guys Loki…”

“He’s more than just a ‘guy’,” Tony!” Dr. Banner protested. “He’s a brilliant astrophysicist!”

“So is Jane,” Thor added helpfully. “And Darcy is a student of…” he paused for a moment to search for the words he needed. “Poli-sci… though I’m not sure what that means.”

“Political sciences,” Pepper supplied, a thread of excitement finding its way into her voice. “Please can they, Tony?”

“I’d love to have Dr. Selvig here,” Bruce added hopefully. “He and Jane would die over the labs!”

Seeing Thor’s look of alarm, Clint assured him. “It’s a figure of speech, Thor; it means they’d _like_ the labs.”

Tony looked to his right – meeting Bruce’s hopeful gaze – and then to his left – Pepper’s equally pleading stare – and nodded informing Thor helplessly, “Mi casa es su casa.”

Now the god was confused and Clint barely held back a chuckle as he translated, “That means yes.”

Thor grinned unabashedly, saying brightly, “You have my thanks!”

“Would you, uh, like me to give her a call for you?” Pepper asked with a smile, thinking back to the one – and only – time they’d let Thor use a cell phone. No one even dared bring up Skype yet.

“That would be appreciated,” Thor replied gratefully.

“I’ll do it first thing in the morning,” Pepper agreed with a smile.

“Well, now that that’s decided on,” Tony said loudly. “Let’s discuss soulmates a little more… ‘cause SHIELD hacks let me in on a couple of things that I want out in the open. First off, I would like to announce that Bruce is mine and Pepper’s third.”

Thor was quick to offer his congratulations, as was Steve… once he relaxed muscles that had tensed at Tony’s first mention of discussing soulmates. Clint and Natasha both just raised their eyebrows in perfect tandem, Clint snorting as Natasha smirked and declared, “We know.”

“And everyone else has figured out that you two are soulmates,” Tony pointed out.

Clint smiled – a real, rare, genuine smile – at Natasha and pulled her into his lap, declaring proudly, “Yes, we are.”

“Good for you for admitting it,” Tony smirked. “What changed your mind?”

The assassins looked at one another, seemingly coming to a decision, before Clint said, “Not telling.”

“Spoilsport,” Tony complained before turning to Steve and asking, “What about you, Capsicle?”

Steve stiffened again, almost imperceptibly, repeating Clint’s, “Not telling.”

“You’re going to make me guess?” Tony asked, narrowing his eyes as he repeated, “Because your SHIELD file did reveal some interesting things.”

“Shut up, Stark,” Steve snapped, instantly on the defense.

“I’m not making fun of you,” Tony assured him. “But I’m _curious_ , considering that I all but grew up in your shadow.”

“Tony,” Pepper warned, laying a hand on his thigh. “Don’t.”

“That’s not my fault, Stark; I was kind of out of it while you were growing up. I can’t help what Howard did.”

“Hey…” Pepper put her hand on Tony’s cheek, forcing him to look her in the eye as she reminded him, “At least you had the Jarvis’s, right?”

“That’s kind of my point,” he muttered under his breath.

“What do you mean?” Bruce asked from his other side.

Tony looked at Steve for a very long minute – Steve _knew_ he saw Tony glance straight at his right arm – before he shoved off of the couch and stalked towards the elevator with a mumbled, “I just saw something wrong.”

  _Something_. Steve rubbed self-consciously at the cloth that was covering his right elbow… and the words that had once been maroon. Had Tony somehow seen the writing… and could the handwriting possibly be familiar?

Bruce and Pepper waited all of two minutes before Pepper asked JARVIS, “Where’s Tony now?”

“His lab.”

“Where else?” Bruce muttered, standing from the couch and offering his hand to Pepper for her to do the same. “Come on; let’s go check on our boy.”

Pepper hadn’t even stepped off of the elevator before she was asking loudly, “What’s going on, Tony? What was that back there?”

“Nothing worth repeating,” the billionaire muttered, not looking up from the gadget that he was tinkering with.

“Tony…” Pepper coaxed, going to wind her arms around his waist.

“Okay, you know what, it’s nothing. I told you that I thought I saw something wrong… and if I _didn’t_ somehow – if I saw it right – I still _really_ don’t want to talk about it. I promise it won’t come up again.”

“That doesn’t tell us if you’re okay, Tony,” Bruce pointed out.

“I’m okay,” Tony parroted convincingly. “Anyway, it doesn’t _really_ matter… not anymore, so much.”

“How,” Pepper asked curiously. “Were the Jarvis’s your point? That is what you said, isn’t it?”

“That’s part of what doesn’t matter.”

“Then what does matter?”

Tony sighed. “I’m not going to say, okay? If nothing else… Steve obviously wants his privacy on the subject, and we, if anyone, can respect that.”

“Since when do you care about protecting Steve?” Bruce asked.

“I’m _trying_ to be a good leader here – for the entire team!” Tony said, starting to lose his patience. “ _Please_ let me do that!”

Both of his soulmates stared at him long and hard for a moment before Bruce agreed meekly, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Tony repeated, relaxing against Pepper’s hold, though he still didn’t look up from his project. “I’m okay. You can leave me alone if you want to. Go check on poor, lonely Capsicle.”

“He’s fine,” Pepper said instantly.

Tony sighed and Pepper and Bruce exchanged a look before Pepper nodded and headed towards the elevator, declaring, “I’m going to go make sure that Thor’s level is ready for Jane and her friends.”

“And I,” Bruce said, dropping a hand onto Tony’s shoulder. “Am not going anywhere. What are you working on here?”


	12. Chapter 12

“Well,” Pepper walked out of the elevator and onto Thor’s level the next morning, informing the thunder god with a small smile, “Jane and Darcy are coming, but I’m afraid that Dr. Selvig has declined the offer. JARVIS has already started arranging for a private jet to go pick the girls up and be back here by the end of the day.”

“Wonderful!” Thor cried. “Although I am sorry to hear of Erik’s refusal.”

“Bruce was disappointed too, but he understood. Dr. Selvig said he would like to try and retain something of a ‘normal’ life after what had happened to him in Manhattan.”

“Of course,” Thor nodded, understanding as well, even as the corners of his mouth sagged just the tiniest bit.

Pepper’s brow crinkled as she thought of something she’d noticed yesterday when she’d come up here to see to the accommodations and glancing around now, she asked Thor, “Where is Loki, exactly? He wasn’t here when I came by yesterday.”

“He’s gone temporarily to Asgard and should return to the Tower in a couple of years.”

“A couple of years?” Pepper repeated, her eyebrows rising before she said slowly, “Alright, then. I’ll tell the others the news.”

* * *

“We. Are. Going. To. Live. Here?” Darcy asked slowly, getting her first glimpse of Avengers Tower as the jet she and Jane were in came in for a landing.

“Yeah,” Jane said absently, practically jittering in her seat with anticipation. “Avengers Tower. Right.”

The thing was that Jane didn’t actually care about living in Avengers Tower; she wanted to live with her _soulmate,_ who just so happened to live in Avengers Tower. Thor was the only thing on her mind just then, and she was thrilled to find him waiting for them when the jet was landed and she could finally clamor out. She ran straight into his arms and he pulled her straight off of her feet when he lifted her into his arms for a kiss.

“You’re here!” he breathed.

“I am,” she whispered back, half wondering if her smile might actually be wide enough to crack her face in two. “I’m here to stay.”

And the two of them had never been happier than in that moment.

* * *

The next day found Tony walking into his Aunt Peggy’s room at the nursing home, more than ready to ask a few hard questions. He wasn’t called a genius for nothing, and he thought he might just be starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Howard had out and out told him that Steve and Bucky were his aunt’s soulmates, but Peggy had never mentioned it herself. She had made it pretty clear that she and Uncle Jack were soulmates though. What’s more, there had been times when he was growing up that he could’ve sworn he saw Jarvis’ writing on his aunt’s left arm, and then it had shown up on Steve – even in the exact same spot!

It made him wish that he’d paid more attention to the handwriting of the six living in that mansion when he still had them around. It made his _head hurt_. And it made him _need_ answers!

Did his aunt have – what? – _seven_ soulmates? Did _all_ of the six who’d raised him? What did that mean for Cap and Sergeant Barnes? Tony wanted answers and he wasn’t above using handwriting-recognition software to get it… but he really did love his aunt, and he wanted to give her the chance to tell him the truth first.

“Hiya, Aunt Peg,” he said, waltzing straight over and flopping into the chair at her bedside, hoping to whatever or whoever might be listening that she would be lucid enough to answer his questions today. The next hour was the first chance he’d had to talk to her since he’d seen Steve’s file, and considering his schedule, it would be the last one for a while too.

“Tony, how are you?” she asked, her eyes mercifully bright as she turned towards him with a smile.

“I’m good,” Tony replied with a smile of his own, but he got right to it, because he knew as well as anyone how quickly a good day for her mind could go down the drain in a blink of an eye. “But, listen, I do have a few questions.”

“What is it?” she asked curiously, accepting the hand that he leaned forward and offered her.

“How many soulmates do you have, Aunt Peggy?”

“Just Jack,” she answered with a light smile. “My poor Jackie; he’s passed on now, you know.”

“I know,” Tony replied sympathetically, squeezing her hand gently as he asked bluntly, “What about Steve? Captain America?”

“Oh, see now, that’s a great secret,” Peggy grinned like a child. “But I guess people won’t mind so much anymore if they find out – but you mustn’t tell anyone!”

“Tell them what?”

“Sergeant Barnes, silly! Practically everyone knows or can guess, I suppose, but no one ever wants to believe that someone’s only soulmate can be a platonic one!”

“Weren’t Cap and Barnes platonic?”

Peggy’s grin turned teasing as she mimed zipping her lips.

“Aunt Peeeeeg!”

“Of course they were platonic, you git,” she gave in with a chuckle. “Some people need friendship more than they will ever need romance, even if they aren’t willing to admit it.”

“So they were like you and Aunt Angie, then?” he asked, trying to trip her up. It was taking advantage of her fragile mind and he knew it, but if that was the only way that he could get real answers, then maybe it was a necessary evil, no matter how much he inwardly grimaced at the idea.

Peggy laughed at the very idea, saying, “Oh, you know how affectionate Angie could be, it doesn’t always mean a soulbond, Tony! You should know that better than anyone, you ridiculous womanizer!”

“I’m not that anymore, Aunt Peg, you know that – and we’re not talking about me, I want to talk about you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, her amusement gone so suddenly that he wondered if she hadn’t been playing him with it in the first place, and asked, “Why so many questions about soulmates?”

Tony shrugged, replying, “I guess I just got curious because,” he couldn’t help the smile that pulled his mouth up and he didn’t even try as he informed her, “Pepper and I found our third about five weeks ago.”


	13. Chapter 13

“That’s wonderful!” Peggy trilled before asking, “How am I just now hearing about it?!”

“I’m sorry, we’ve been awfully busy; I came as soon as I could though!”

“I saw that fight on the television! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I promise.”

“What about…” she bit her lip, asking uncertainly while her eyes suddenly began to glisten, “Did my senile old mind dream up Steve being with you?”

“Oh, no, Aunt Peg! He… he was, yes.”

The tears began to fall as she whispered, “Steve?”

“Yeah, Steve. He, ah, lives in my new Tower now.”

“How am I just now hearing about it?!” she repeated, this time at a much higher, unhappy pitch.

“I was busy! I am _so_ sorry!” Tony apologized, beginning to panic. It had been a _long_ time since he’d heard that pitch, and it was never a good sign. “I can tell him you’re here as soon as I get back to the Tower!”

“You’d better, young man!”

“I will,” Tony promised, trying to calm her down – but the damage had already been done and a nurse came to stand in the doorway, demanding, “I think you need to let her rest now, Mr. Stark. You can come back tomorrow if you like.”

“Someone else will be coming instead,” Aunt Peggy said firmly, and the way she looked at him told him he’d better make sure exactly that happened.

Tony nodded nervously, jerking to his feet and dropping a kiss onto her temple before he high-tailed it out of that room. He was halfway home before he began to sort through their conversation, realizing that not only had her answers not deviated from what he’d always heard, but she’d actually managed to get _him_ off topic.

He blew out a frustrated breath, muttering, “I guess that’s what you get when you try to question a SHIELD director and an interrogator’s wife.”

He’d meant what he’d told Pepper, though; if anyone could understand the desire to keep their soulbonds a secret, he could. Maybe it would be best to let things reveal themselves in their own time – because he knew for a fact that things like this _did_ always come out.

Maybe, he thought suddenly, he could trip Steve up when he told him where he could find Aunt Peggy! The very idea had him gunning it back to the Tower and hollering for JARVIS to tell him where Steve was the moment he parked the car.

…But Steve didn’t give a thing in the world away. He was apparently smarter and had more of a clue then Tony had given him credit for.

“I’d be more than happy to see Peggy again,” Steve said neutrally. “A familiar face might be just what I need.”

“You sure she’s not something more to you, Cap?”

Steve paused before flushing and admitting, “We were a… a nice distraction for each other from the war, I guess, yeah.”

“Fair enough,” Tony answered, turning and walking away before he could say anything he might later regret.

He didn’t want to risk it when all of this “team” stuff was so new to them all. There was a bigger picture at play here then his own suspicions, and he would have to keep that in mind… for as long as it took for the real truth to come out.

* * *

_June, 2014_

Loki slipped into Avengers Tower two years after he’d left it. Though ruling Asgard for so long had left him something of a changed man – tamer, more considerate, more at peace with himself, in his own opinion – he knew his presence still might be an unwelcome one, so he waited until he knew the residents of Thor’s level would be asleep and magicked himself into his bedroom without a sound. Even in the darkness, he could see that the room was still unfinished, and he sighed softly.

“Hello again, Loki.”

This time he didn’t jump when the ceiling spoke to him softly, just said, “Hello, JARVIS.”

“How was your time as king?”

“ _Not_ what I thought it would be. The All-Father was unhappy when he awoke to find me leading the realms, no matter how well I did at the job, but that was to be expected. I pleased Mother and Thor, though, so that will hopefully mean something positive in regards to my redemption. Speaking of which, I’ve returned to complete my original mission here. How are Thor and Jane?”

“They’re in the bedroom two doors down and to the left; they’re extremely happy. Your mission where they’re concerned is certainly complete. They married last year, as did Agents Barton and Romanoff and Mr. Stark and Miss Potts.”

“Marvelous! Who does that leave on the list?”

“It _is_ midnight, Loki,” JARVIS said suggestively.

“And I’m not tired. Catch me up on everything that’s happened since I left.”

“That’s going to be a lot considering that SHIELD just _fell apart_.”

“Then you’d best start talking.”

So JARVIS did… for _hours_ , but at the end of it Loki wasn’t ready to end the conversation; he was ready to move on to a different topic, asking the question, “And the captain’s soulmate is… who?” Loki cocked his head to the side, realizing, “I actually don’t know anything about his soulmate.”

“Well,” JARVIS drawled dryly. “We’ll start there. According to the hacked SHIELD files, he has numerous soulmates – seven, to be exact.”

“Oh _Norns_ ,” Loki groaned, throwing his head back. “ _This_ is why the All-Father decided upon this punishment. The captain’s soulmates are going to be a ridiculous issue, aren’t they?”

“It gets better. Margaret Carter is currently an old woman in a nursing home, Sergeant Barnes has just resurfaced as the brain-washed Russian assassin I mentioned, The Winter Soldier, and the other five… well, they’re dead. Make a happily ever after out of that, trickster.”

“Where would you suggest I start?” Loki ground out, forcing himself to ignore the AI’s taunting.

“Considering everything that’s stacked against the probability of this working out, the sergeant is most likely going to be the easiest place to start… which just shows you how difficult this is going to be. But you enjoy a challenge, don’t you?”


	14. Chapter 14

"You  _are_ going to help me locate the sergeant, aren't you?" Loki asked a little sharply.

"Mr. Stark and I have already been working on that since Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff returned to the Tower, which was two months ago. But I do believe that we're getting close. We first spotted him in Washington, DC, but he seems to have made a comfort zone out of Brooklyn the past month. I believe he's getting his memories back."

"That's a good thing, correct?"

"Not necessarily; he was – I repeat – a brainwashed assassin for HYDRA. That means a lot of horrible things occurred at his hands, unwillingly though that may have been."

"So he would benefit from being in Captain Rogers presence, then, yes?"

"Soulmates do tend to have a knack for soothing one another," JARVIS replied. "So it may be worth the attempt."

"Wonderful," Loki groaned, folding himself down onto his… well, it was nothing more than a mattress, actually. "Can we perhaps speed up your process of finding him?"

"No, Mr. Stark and I cannot; we're pooling all of our resources on the subject as it is."

"Then speed up the 'resource-pooling'!"

"We're doing the best we can already. Calm yourself; your heart rate is showing an unusual spike."

"Forget you!" Loki snapped. "Maybe I have my own way to find him," he murmured to himself before declaring to JARVIS, "I'm returning to Asgard temporarily. I should be back in New York within 24 hours."

"Would you like me to inform the others you were here?"

"No," Loki replied with a sly smile. "I think I would like to surprise our dear captain instead."

Without another word, Loki was gone again. He went back through the portal he'd used to go to Midgard and once he was on Asgard, he went straight to Heimdall.

"I require your services, gatekeeper," he announced. "I must have the location of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, one of Captain Rogers' soulmates. You can give it to me, could you not?"

"I could," Heimdall replied. "But in this case your assisting of fate is unnecessary. Let the sergeant care for himself; your efforts are better directed towards the warrioress, Margaret Carter."

Loki stared silently at the gatekeeper for a long moment wanting to protest, but he'd slowly learned to trust Heimdall's judgment over the past two years and he would do so now. "Very well, I will go request one of Idunn's apples instead then."

"You're no longer king, my prince," Heimdall pointed out. "She does not have to oblige you; your strange request may well be better received if you wait until morning instead of waking her now. You should return to your chambers and sleep for a few hours."

"Why do people continue to insist upon that? I do not wish to sleep!" He took a deep breath to calm himself, deciding, "Research. I shall go to the library and research a spell that I'll require."

And he moved in that direction, leaving Heimdall alone in the observatory, sighing at him.

* * *

It had been seven in the morning when the Avengers had gotten the call to assemble from JARVIS – the AI had located another HYDRA base, and this one housed enough explosives to level all of New York, so it couldn't wait. Three hours later, though, Clint was half-dead on his feet and running out of arrows. None of the other Avengers were faring any better… and he realized suddenly that they might just be losing.

He was on one of the few still-standing roofs on the secluded countryside estate, and he couldn't get a good enough look at his teammates on the ground.

"Cap, I'm out," he cried into his comm. "I don't have any ammo left!"

"Sit tight and stay low," came the order. "Nobody else is in any better shape; we may have to retreat and come back later."

"They'll move the explosives if we do that!" Natasha protested.

"We may not have a choice," Cap sighed.

But then someone dropped in out of nowhere beside Clint, already sniping HYDRA agents before the archer could even think to be startled. "Maybe we do have a choice," Clint informed Cap, watching the sniper in slight awe as he asked him, "Who  _are_ you?"

"You got Captain America on that comm?" he muttered, ignoring Clint's question.

"Yeah."

"Tell him you've got somebody up here who… wants to give him some of his stupid back."

Clint did a double take, mentally blaming the man's first-rate sniping for the fact that he hadn't noticed the metal arm before now. Realizing who he was looking at, Clint muttered an oath and relayed the message to Cap with a smile.

And then received dead silence on the comms. "Cap, you there?"

"Nope," Steve said, landing on the roof on Barnes' opposite side – courtesy of Ironman, apparently. "I'm right here."

Barnes smiled, but he had yet to stop gunning down HYDRA goons. "Hiya, punk," he greeted, still not taking his eyes off of his task. "What do you say we finish these guys off and then find a place to talk?"

"Sounds like a plan," Steve answered, beaming.

"Then get back down there; I've got your six."

"Always," Steve replied, grudgingly doing as he'd been told.

"Hey," Barnes called, tossing a box of bullets after him. "Give these to the girl; she's getting too low on ammo."

Clint smiled, informing him once Steve was gone, "I like you already."

"Then you're about to like me a lot more." Barnes reached into a hidden pocket on his vest and pulled out a dozen arrows that he'd reclaimed on the way to Clint. "Let's get this done; I have a soulmate to talk to."

* * *

Loki was back on Midgard by 10:30 that morning, shape-shifted into Captain Rogers as he walked into the nursing home that, according to information from JARVIS, was home to Margaret Carter.

A nurse winced as he walked in, declaring, "I'm afraid she'd having a bad day today, captain. She's taken a turn for the worse."


	15. Chapter 15

"I have a gift for her," Loki/Steve explained, sidling past the nurse and heading stubbornly for the room that JARVIS had supplied him with directions to. "Hello, Margaret," he said, walking into the room and sitting at her bedside. "I have something for you."

"Steve?" she asked in awe, taking one look at him and promptly bursting into tears.

"I thought you said the captain frequently visited her!" Loki/Steve hissed into the invisible comm in his ear that was connecting him to JARVIS. "Why is she acting like she has never seen me – 'Steve' – before?!"

"Her dementia; her mind is weak," JARVIS supplied. "The nurse said she was having a difficult day."

The apple would solve that issue, but he had to get her to eat it first.

"Steve," Margaret continued, grasping his hand for dear life as she asked, "Is it really you?"

Loki's conscience winced as he squeezed her frail hand gently and smiled. "Of course… and I brought a gift for you." He pulled the golden apple out of one pocket and a small knife out of the other, commenting, "I hope you're hungry."

She shook her head stubbornly, and Loki/Steve sighed, glancing around the room for inspiration. There was a rolling table at the end of the bed with an untouched breakfast tray on it. Brow creasing, he looked more closely at the woman in the bed. Even by Midgardian standards she was small, frail, pale, weak, and confused… This wasn't the same woman who'd built SHIELD; this was a woman on her deathbed, he realized suddenly. If he had waited much longer, he would've had to use different magic entirely to get her back into her captain's arms.

But Captain Rogers would have tried to get her to eat, wouldn't he? So why, since he was masquerading as Steve, couldn't Loki?

He used his knife to cut a slice out of the apple and moved to sit directly on the edge of the bed, offering it to her. "Please, Margaret, eat the apple for me?"

"I'm tired, Steve," she murmured. "I'm not hungry. Can't I just take a nap? I need to rest before Bucky gets back."

"You need to eat," he corrected, inwardly wincing at her obvious confusion.

She eyed him with cynical exasperation, demanding, "If I eat the ridiculous apple will you let me sleep?"

"Of course," Loki/Steve smiled, moving again so that he could slip an arm around her shoulders and help her sit up.

Still grumbling words that he couldn't decipher, she took the slice of fruit and chewed it slowly.

"Next piece," he commanded firmly, cutting a second bite off and handing it to her once the first was gone.

She rolled her eyes at him as she took it – and leaned against him, thoroughly startling the trickster. Though she was clearly frustrated with him right now, she was completely relaxed… trusting – but only because she thought he was Steve, he reminded himself. It did make him wonder what it would be like to find his own soulmate.

But that wasn't his purpose right now, he reminded himself firmly; Steve's soulmate was.

It was a slow process, getting her to finish Idunn's apple. There was a lot of gentle prompting on his end, gradually half-hearted grumbling on hers, and time taken up. He exercised more patience then he would've even possessed two years ago, but at length the fruit was gone.

Loki/Steve eased Margaret back against her pillows and hurried to shut the door of her room so that no one saw the transformation that was only a second away from occurring. He turned from the closed door to the woman in the bed in time to see a flash of light… and then the light faded away to reveal a pretty brunette appearing to be in her early thirties.

The color of her eyes alone remained unchanged… but the gaze itself was much sharper as she looked down at her youthful form in shock – then turned cool eyes back to Loki/Steve, demanding harshly, "Now exactly who are you, young man? Because you are  _not_  my Steve, even if you are wearing his face."

Loki/Steve chuckled at this Midgardian's tenacity, calmly switching back to his Asgardian form.

Her eyes widened as she spat, "You're the alien that destroyed Manhattan!"

"Would you believe me if I said that, technically speaking, that wasn't my fault?"

"No!"

"Somehow I thought not. What if I told you that I'm here to take you to Captain Rogers?" he asked, realizing too late that he'd stupidly left the knife within her reach.

She noticed it at the same time he did and was quick to snatch the weapon up. Though he knew she wouldn't be able to inflict any real or lasting damage on him, he also knew that she'd try given the chance, as she demanded of him, "Now why would you do that?"

"It's a long story… and part of my penance for my crimes against your people. I won't harm you, you have my word."

She stared at him for a long minute, sizing him up, before she came to a decision, sliding carefully from the bed and declaring, "I'll go, but I'll be keeping the knife, thank you."

He barely bit back an amused laugh as he nodded. "That seems fair. This – getting you out of here and back to your soulmate – will go easiest if you take my hand."

"And if I won't?"

"Then we'll be playing prison break some other way, and I didn't bother to plan for that."

She rolled her eyes again, muttering something about the "incompetence of men" as she reached for him with the hand that wasn't clutching his knife. Within the blink of an eye, he'd teleported them to an elevator in Avengers' Tower.

As she got her bearings, the point of his knife was suddenly at his throat as his feisty traveling companion snapped, "Where are we? How did you do that?"

"Teleportation is a magic trick that my mother taught me, and it's brought us to Captain Rogers' residence, Avengers' Tower." He smiled in amusement – he might be able to learn to like this mortal – and put a finger to the hilt of the knife, tilting it away from his throat as he asked, "Would you like to see him?"


	16. Chapter 16

Before she could even reply, JARVIS broke in, informing them, "Captain Rogers is currently in the team's private infirmary."

"Who's speaking?" Margaret demanded. "And why is Steve in an infirmary?"

"I'm JARVIS, Agent Carter, Mr. Stark's personal artificial intelligence butler, ready to assist tower residents whenever they require. As for Captain Rogers, he's only sustained very minor injuries after taking down a HYDRA base; he's technically there for Sergeant Barnes' sake."

"Bucky?" she gasped, tears instantly springing to her eyes. "He's here?"

"Apparently so," Loki muttered under his breath as JARVIS answered, "He appeared in the middle of the battle and is currently being examined by Dr. Banner."

"Take me to them," she ordered sternly, trying and failing rather gloriously to hide the fact that she was shaking with nervous excitement.

"Of course."

Seconds later, the elevator doors slid open to reveal the Avengers all clustered around an exam table upon which sat Captain Rogers with Sergeant Barnes.

* * *

Steve was having a surprisingly good afternoon considering the fact that two hours ago, he'd been facing the idea of having to order his team to retreat. They had been victorious though, and now he was sitting safe at home with Bucky at his side – granted, they were in an infirmary and Bucky obviously had serious issues that they were going to have to work through, but  _Bucky was here_!

Then the impossible happened.

"Steve? Bucky!"

Bucky, who had curled uncertainly into Steve's arms a long while ago, stiffened with shock, as did Steve, as both of them whipped around towards the woman racing off of the elevator at speeds so fast they couldn't really confirm who she was until she was wrapping her arms around both of them in a death grip.

"Peggy?" Bucky asked uncertainly, him and everyone else in the room looking just as confused as Steve felt.

She nodded frantically and lifted her head from where she'd buried it in Steve's neck, beaming at Bucky as she offered carefully, "Hi."

Bucky squinted a little at her, trying to come up with why that was important before recognition flashed across his face – along with a happy half-smile – and he replied predictably, "Ma'am."

Their soulmarks for one another – and as inept as the words had always been, they were the perfect ones in the moment. It spoke to happy times and even new beginnings, which was exactly what they needed. There were still a lot of issues that they had to face between the three of them – problems that needed dealt with, questions that needed asked (why did Peggy look 32 would be a nice place to start), conversations they had to have – but what they needed above all else was a new beginning, a fresh start. It wouldn't come easy, but they were soldiers, they knew how to fight for what they wanted, and this felt like as good a place as any to begin again.

"I can't believe your both here!" Peggy whispered in awe, taking Bucky's metal hand fearlessly in her own and cradling Steve's hand as well.

Steve chuckled, "I second that," as he held Bucky's flesh hand, completing their circle.

Peggy grinned, leaning into kiss him, and then – slowly, carefully, giving him time to back away if he wanted to – Bucky.

But the world around them inevitably came sharply back into focus. The other Avengers, Dr. Foster, Darcy, Miss Potts – all standing there in various stages of confusion and shock.

Tony looked to be stunned beyond words for once in his life, so it was Bruce who eventually managed to stammer carefully, "Aren't you supposed to be older, Agent Carter? You are Agent Carter, aren't you?"

"I am," Peggy nodded, turning to someone who'd remained unnoticed on the edge of the room as she said. "As to how I look the way I do – ask him."

"Loki," Steve growled, his arm tightening protectively around Peggy's waist as he glared at the god who hadn't bothered to inform them that he was back in town. "What did you do?"

Loki strode towards the group, looking completely unconcerned as he asked, "Idunn's apple – have you heard of it?"

When Steve shook his head it was Dr. Foster who said, "Youth-maintaining apples from the Norse goddess Idunn. They would've returned Agent Carter to the  _appearance_ of being in her thirties but left her with all of her memories of living into her nineties."

"Correct," Loki nodded at Dr. Foster approvingly, asking her, "Are you Jane?" She nodded, eyeing him suspiciously, but he just fished a second Idunn's apple out of his overcoat and tossed it to her, declaring, "I thought you might like to age at the same rate as my brother… and presumably at least Captain Rogers, if not Sergeant Barnes as well."

"Since when do you care about us mere mortals?" Darcy snapped, cynically eyeing the food Loki had given to her boss.

* * *

"It's in my mission requirements I'm afraid," he drawled evenly.

It had taken Loki a surprisingly long while to realize that, but now he recognized it for the truth that it was. In order to complete the mission the All-Father had given him, he had to learn to care for these people at least a very little bit. It had required him to have something of a heart-to-heart with  _Barton_ , to attempt to  _understand_ Dr. Banner's thought processes to some extent so he could decide what needed done.

He'd  _ruled Asgard_ for two years so that his brother could remain with his Jane and that… that had been a surprisingly life-changing experience in a way that was much more positive then he'd anticipated. He'd gained an actual appreciation for leadership, and he'd… become friendly with Heimdall, Sif, and the Warriors Three. In order to be a truly good king, he'd had to remind himself that he was capable of feeling things like compassion, pity, consideration for others, and trust.

He'd even felt a bit of gentle pity over Agent Carter – before the apple had turned her into a knife-wielding force to be reckoned with, that was. Now he was simply beginning to wonder if she might not be someone that he might like to be friends with.

And something told him that was a part of Odin's plan to begin with.


	17. Chapter 17

Darcy merely rolled her eyes at Loki and he smirked in return before stepping back onto the elevator. Once the doors were closed and he was alone with the ever-present JARVIS, he declared, "I need more directions. Would you happen to know where Captain Rogers' other five soulmates are buried?"

"Of course. Would you like to teleport or would you rather I retrieved a car for you as I would a normal person?"

"I'm far from normal," Loki objected.

"On that we agree," JARVIS drawled sarcastically.

"Give me the address and then give me silence!"

"Normal people say 'shut up' on this planet."

"Give me the address and then  _shut up_!"

"So glad to have you back, Mr. Odinson."

Loki couldn't tell if the AI was still teasing or not, but the god found that he was surprisingly sincere as he replied, "Glad to be back."

* * *

When Loki was back in the elevator and gone from sight, the tension in the room relaxed considerably and Jane declared happily, "How great is it that we all have complete bonds now?"

Nobody noticed how many people in the room stiffened guiltily at that, and Clint pointed out quickly, "Except for Darcy."

"Yeah, Darcy, what's up with that?" Tony teased, ignoring Pepper's reproving glare.

Jane murmured a startled "oh," and both women looked at Thor for… something. He seemed to understand what they wanted though, and when he nodded Jane revealed, "I'd forgotten that you guys didn't know. It's not horribly interesting because we're only platonic, but Darcy and I are actually soulmates."

"How have you been living here for two years without mentioning that?" Tony asked.

"You lived for years without anyone knowing that you and Pepper had a third," Bruce pointed out evenly.

"But still!"

"And, like Janey said," Darcy spoke up. "It's not that important; we  _are_ platonic, and you all know that we can get along like fire and ice sometimes ."

With that, the idea hit Tony suddenly as he asked Darcy, "Does that mean that Thor's your third?"

"No," Darcy and Thor answered together firmly, and Darcy added sternly, "Don't even start with us, Tony."

So the billionaire didn't say anything… until he was alone, and he asked JARVIS, "Have Darcy and Thor ever actually touched – skin to skin, like Asgardians require for their soulmarks to appear?"

"I can scan Tower video feed to find out," JARVIS answered.

"Good man, J."

* * *

"You know," Loki commented to the comm that was once again nestled invisibly in his ear. "For such a 'forgotten' section of the cemetery, these graves are very well cared for; it's almost a shame that they're going to be emptied."

"Mr. Stark makes sure that they're cared for – or at least his money does. He pays the groundskeeper well to care for the plots."

"He does care for them, doesn't he?" Loki mused, reading the names on the headstones.

_Jack Thompson._

_Angie Sousa._

_Daniel Sousa._

_Anna Jarvis._

_Edwin Jarvis._

"The Jarvises? Is that where Stark got your name from?"

"Yes."

"This…" Loki realized slowly. "Is going to change his world, isn't it? But it will surely please him to have them back."

"Or not," JARVIS drawled in his ear.

"Why not?" Loki asked incredulously.

"Ask your magic tricks."

Loki stared down at the graves, suddenly feeling a little nervous, as he asked, "If this somehow destroys Stark's 'happily ever after' to the point that I have to go back to helping him with something else again to fix it, I am holding you personally responsible for withholding information from me."

"I'm not withholding it from you, I don't think – I'm withholding information from Mr. Stark. I told you before that I can filter what exactly he sees; part of what that means is that though he suspects the eight are soulmates, he doesn't know it for certain."

"But he will when the five of them walk into the Tower."

"My point exactly."

Loki sighed, realizing, "I have no choice either way, do I? This is either a win-win or lose-lose situation. Whichever way it goes, Captain Rogers requires these five to be truly happy."

"That is the way soulmates work, I'm afraid."

"Very well."

Loki sighed one last time and set his jaw, focusing all of his energy on his magic until green light surrounded him – and the five graves. He was trembling with the massive amount of effort his task required, and he slammed his eyes closed, focusing everything he had into the necessary spell. He could hear, smell,  _feel_ the cool bitter-sweetness of the magic surrounding him, see the green glow through his eyelids – and then it was gone.

His eyes shot open to find five people staring around them in awe… and then the ground was suddenly rushing towards him as his legs collapsed beneath him. He'd just enacted – times five – one of the strongest, rarest spells in all of the Nine Realms, and it was going to take him a few days to recover from that, even with his stamina.

"Look!" a woman with a European accent cried as his eyelids fluttered closed.

"What the heck is going on here?" a man asked loudly.

"I don't know, but that guy needs help," a second man said.

"Is it just me or did we just… come back to life or some equally freaky something?" a woman with a definite New York accent asked, "Because I very distinctly remember dying!"

"Hello!" the first woman called out and Loki felt someone hovering over him, dropping to the ground and putting his head on her knees as she demanded the others pay attention to her. "He needs help!"

"What happened to him?" a third masculine voice questioned – this one with an accent that reminded him of Agent Carter's – kneeling down beside the woman.

"Do you think he brought us back?" the second man asked.

"I don't know, but it looks like he's passed out; we've got to find a way to get him out of here," the first man said. "He needs a doctor, a hospital."

Loki moaned, shaking his head faintly. The woman who'd originally noticed him placed a cool hand on his forehead and he grabbed her wrist, ordering softly "hold hands," hoping they'd all obey as he prepared to sap even more of his magic.


	18. Chapter 18

At least two of the five people accompanying Loki screamed when he teleported them back to the Tower. He wanted to scream at them that it was  _only Thor's living room_ , but he didn't have the strength… for much of anything, actually, he realized belatedly, once again crumpling to the floor.

"Put him on the couch," the European woman ordered and before Loki could protest he felt himself being scooped up with one man at either of his arms, hauling him roughly to the couch.

"I've contacted Agents Romanoff and Barton," JARVIS declared. Loki wanted to yell because of that too, because  _why_  would he do that? As if the AI had read his thoughts, JARVIS added, "They know first aid and will also remain calm in what is admittedly an odd situation."

"Why is  _the wall talking_?" the woman from Brooklyn asked shrilly.

"Where are we?!" one of the men with an American accent demanded. " _What_ is going on? What year is it even?"

These were the questions to which Natasha and Clint opened the elevator, as JARVIS was already calmly answering them, "The wall is talking because I'm JARVIS, Mr. Stark's personal artificial intelligence butler, ready to assist tower residents whenever they require. You are currently at Avengers Tower in New York City, one of Mr. Stark's preferred personal residences in early June of 2014. SHIELD agents Barton and Romanoff are here to assist you; they're personal friends of Mr. Stark's."

"Tony or Howard Stark?" Loki heard the European woman ask just as he drifted off to get some much-needed rest.

* * *

"Tony," Natasha replied, stepping off of the elevator with Clint at her side. Both of them had their hands on hidden but ever-present weapons as she said, "I'm Agent Romanoff, this is my partner, Agent Barton. Who are you, what are you doing in the Tower, and how did you get here?"

"I'm Jack Thompson," a blonde man in his early thirties said, stepping forward and offering his hand to Natasha. "These are my neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis and Mr. and Mrs. Sousa."

"As in Edwin Jarvis?" Clint asked.

It was only when Mr. Jarvis nodded that Natasha accepted the outstretched hand as Mr. Thompson added, "As for why we're here and how we got here? I honestly couldn't tell you."

"Loki," Clint and Natasha declared at the same time.

"Is that his name?" Natasha detected an accent – Hungarian? – in the voice of the concerned-looking woman Mr. Thompson had called Anna Jarvis as she gestured to the god on the couch.

Natasha nodded, stepping forward to check Loki's pulse. "He's fine;" she declared. "Just tired…" Exhausted, actually, by the look of him. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"We're not sure we even know what happened to us!" Mrs. Sousa cried anxiously. "I died in early 1989 when I was in my early 70s. Then all of a sudden somebody… it feels like they just woke me up from a nap, except twenty-five years have passed, and I'm what? Am I even thirty?"

"And that's the summary of what we know, Agent Romanoff," Mr. Sousa informed her, going up to hug his wife from behind.

The woman calmed instantly, taking a deep breath as she leaned her head back against him – until Mr. Thompson asked, "Where's Peggy? If we're here, shouldn't she be too?"

Natasha paled, snapping before this got out of hand, "JARVIS, what do you know about this?"

"No more than what they've already told you," Mr. Jarvis said.

"She meant me," the AI said. "Loki went out to the cemetery, resurrected these five, and teleported them back here, exhausting himself and his magic in order to do so."

"Why would he do that?" Clint asked.

"That's classified information."

Natasha threatened, "Either you unclassify it or I'll hack into you and get the information myself. You forget that Natalie Rushman got the necessary codes from Pepper years ago."

"It's extremely private information," JARVIS protested.

Natasha's mind began to click pieces of the puzzle into place as she asked, "Mr. Thompson, are you Agent Carter's soulmate?"

There was a split-second – and extremely telling – pause before he answered honestly, "Yes."

"You mean you don't recognize him, Tasha?" Clint asked in surprise. "That's Jack Thompson. He ran the SSR right before Howard and Peggy turned it into SHIELD and, yeah, he's married to Agent Carter."

Natasha narrowed her eyes, thoughts racing far beyond those few facts as she asked JARVIS, "Is Jane busy?"

"Not particularly."

"Then tell her she's needed here and explain why once you have her alone in the elevator. You, me and Clint are going to go talk in the air vents while Jane entertains our visitors."

"As you wish," JARVIS answered, but Natasha didn't miss the nervous strain in the AI's tone.

"Our friend, Dr. Foster, will be here in a minute," Natasha informed the five before she gestured Clint into the air vent and followed after him. Once they were situation comfortably in a particularly large section of duct that was out of human hearing range, Natasha said, "I know you can hear me, JARVIS. Here's what I want to know. Are they  _all_ soulmates?"

"Define 'all'?"

"Clint told me on our first date after Loki talked to him those couple of years back that Loki had said that he'd been assigned to make a 'happily ever after' for the Avengers. Soulmates started getting fixed everywhere in the Tower for the few days that he was here. He left; it stopped – stopped just short of Steve, as a matter of fact. Loki returns; so does Barnes – "

"That was a fluke," JARVIS protested.

"And Loki brought Carter in along with a magic apple, and now there's dead people standing around in Thor's living room.  _How many soulmates does Steve have_?"

"I would prefer that you wait for Loki to wake up and allow him to answer your questions."

"How long until Loki wakes up?" Clint questioned, putting a calming hand on Natasha's leg to soothe her frustration.

"Judging by his current rate of recovery he'll be awake at eight a.m. tomorrow morning."

"Then his family can babysit them until he's awake to explain their presence."

"We're more their speed, I think, Tasha," Clint suggested.

"We have things to do!"

"Jane's a full-time scientist!"

"Who's unfunded now that SHIELD's sunk!"

"SI started funding her immediately!"

Natasha froze before asking despairingly, "Why are we arguing about  _Jane_?"


	19. Chapter 19

"Because arguing is what we do best here recently," Clint sighed.

"Great 'happily ever after,' huh?" Natasha snorted.

"We're okay, Tasha."

"Not without them, we won't' be," she sighed, running her fingertips along the soles of Clint's socked feet.

He returned the favor and she kicked him lightly for it as she suggested optimistically, "Maybe Loki will find them for us next?"

"Loki's under the impression that your bond is complete and I've not told him otherwise," JARVIS declared.

"You'll tell him about Steve's  _seven_ , but not our  _two_?" Clint protested.

"He only asked about Captain Rogers, never about you. As it is, you'll have to trust me when I tell you that for now it's better this way," JARVIS said.

Natasha rolled her eyes, muttering, "Perfect."

* * *

It actually was rare that JARIVS made good use of the filters that he had in his system – Pepper had once paid a brilliant rogue hacker to make them better then even Tony knew they were – but JARVIS did know better than to trust his creator with much personal information on his teammates. Therefore, by the time Tony went down to his lab and asked JARVIS for an update on the just-completed video scanning, the AI was ready with his answer.

"So, have Rock of Ages and Darcy touched?"

"Yes, sir," he answered automatically – which  _technically_  wasn't a lie. They  _had_ touched, just never skin on skin, like Asgardian soulmarks required. "No soulmarks have ever developed between them though."

"Pity," Tony commented. "Don't all the others on the team have multiple soulmarks according to their files?"

"Yes, sir, but may I remind you that you not to know that information – nor, for that matter, was SHIELD's file on Thor as comprehensive as it was on the others when you received those files."

Those soulmarks… they were what came back to skitter around in Tony's brain every so often, seeing as he knew full-well how difficult it could be to have an incomplete soulbond. Maybe not knowing when they had a third was helpful to Asgardian soulmates.

Tony knew that JARVIS regretted giving him access to those soulmarks; he thought it was a bad thing that he knew such a personal thing about his teammates, but it wasn't as though Tony was sharing the information. The Avengers themselves didn't even know that he knew!

In Thor's case, he genuinely  _didn't_ know, but still… Tony wasn't good with people, but because he knew what it looked like, he just had this niggling feeling that Thor and Jane  _were_ missing a third – but how to solve the problem?

* * *

"Captain Rogers?" JARVIS spoke up hours later, breaking into the middle of the conversation that Bucky, Peggy, and Steve were having in the middle of Steve's living room. "Mr. Stark has a car waiting for you three to go to dinner."

"Are we in the mood for that?" Steve asked, looking at Bucky and Peggy curled into each other on the couch beside him. They hadn't really moved from this spot since leaving the infirmary and there was a fair chance they wouldn't want to any more than he did.

"You'll thoroughly enjoy it if you do," JARVIS promised. "You have my personal promise, though Mr. Stark makes his own. He inherited the place from his father. It's small, but you'll be totally alone there tonight."

"Out of the Tower alone?" Steve repeated, slowly beginning to change his mind. "This might be a good idea after all." Particularly for Bucky…

"There are clothes waiting for you in three of the bedrooms," JARVIS informed them.

Peggy asked, "Is that why all of those machines were crisscrossing the apartment earlier? To get those things ready?"

"Yes, ma'am," JARVIS replied. "My apologies if the bots disturbed you."

They'd startled Bucky – as most things in the Tower seemed to – but otherwise, "It's fine," Steve told the AI before untangling himself from Bucky, who hadn't let go of him since they'd left the HYDRA base. "Come on; let's go investigate what Tony's got up his sleeve for us."

An hour later, the trio had showered and dressed up in the nice clothes that Tony had left for them to find before they made their way down to the garage. As they settled into the limo, Peggy remarked, "I kind of feel bad for not talking to Tony yet. I should probably sit down with him and discuss a few things very soon."

"Why?" Steve asked curiously.

"Hasn't he ever mentioned me – or any of the others?"

"He's never mentioned you in a personal way, if that's what you mean – just as you relate to SHIELD. And what… others?"

Peggy sighed weightily, answering, "Me and the other five of our soulmates. Howard… became a bit of a wreck, so once Tony was born, we all but raised him – by which I mean Eddie and Anna did and the rest of us helped."

"No, he's never mentioned that," Steve admitted carefully, trying not to show how surprised he was by that news while simultaneously soothing the way it had obviously bothered her. "But he's also a very private person. He doesn't like talking about his past."

"Which we are a very big part of," she added. "You two drove Howard a little bonkers after you disappeared – because our soulmarks did not, which is how we knew you were still alive. The other six of us ended up, as I said, being more like parents to Tony then his own parents."

"I'm sure he was happy to see you," Steve remarked. "He can't be too upset if he's set up whatever this is for us."

"I wonder if that's only because he hasn't figured out exactly how much we kept from him yet," she muttered darkly.

"What do you mean, doll?" Bucky asked, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

They'd spent the afternoon catching up on what had happened with Steve and Bucky and it was her turn to talk now, apparently.


	20. Chapter 20

"I found our other five, and even married one of them," Peggy started.

"Jack Thompson," Steve supplied; SHIELD history told him this much of the story already.

"Yes. We – all six of us – lived in this three-story mansion of Howard's. The story was that we were just three couples who rented different levels of the same house and with as talkative as Tony's always been, that's the story we told him. He's already pieced together the truth, though, I think, within the last couple of years. If I know him, he's going to confront me about it now, and I'm not going to know what to tell him, It won't be a fun conversation either way, I'm afraid."

"He understands what it is to have to hide a multi-person bond, though," Steve reminded her. "Very few people know he and his wife have a third."

"Maybe that'll help," Peggy conceded, asking, "How is he, really? He hadn't come to see me at the nursing home for such a long time."

"After we all got over the shock of Manhattan he started laying off the drinking. Bruce provides the last piece of the puzzle he and Pepper need – somebody to speak Tony's science language and help Pepper keep him in line."

Peggy grinned, commenting idly, "Triads are interesting like that. I guess that's what we are now…"

The words were barely out of her mouth before all three of them cried out, watching in mystification as their soulmarks filled with color.

Bucky, who had built up a higher pain tolerance that the other two, gasped out, "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Steve gaped.

"No idea," Peggy agreed. "Call and ask Tony maybe? No, not until I can talk to him about all of this, obviously."

"So what do we do?" Steve asked.

"For the moment, whatever Tony has planned," Peggy answered resolutely as the chauffer – thank goodness for the pane of soundproof glass dividing them – pulled up in front of… a perfect replica of the 1944 Stork Club. She recognized it immediately as the place that had haunted her most bittersweet dreams for years.

Steve asked faintly as he handed her out of the car, "Where are we?"

Bucky didn't understand the memory that Steve knew all too well was assailing her, so he walked ahead of them and grabbed a note that was taped to the locked door. He turned to them and read, "'Dad built this place specifically to remodel it like this for 'Cap and his best girl' – a building frozen in time just like him. Have a 'swell time'. If you can figure out how to work it, there's plenty of slow music on the MP3 player. The key's where Steve used to keep his.'" Bucky glanced at the other two, more bewildered then ever by the tears shimmering in both pairs of eyes, before he nibbling on the inside of his cheek, searching for a memory. His eyes sparked with remembrance and he glanced around at the ground, kicking aside brick he saw and picking up the key underneath.

"You kept your spare key underneath a brick?" Peggy scoffed, looking at Steve in amusement.

Bucky smirked his agreement as he unlocked and opened the door, holding it open for his soulmates.

"Oh, Steve!" Peggy gasped, looking around them as she entered the space.

"How did Howard know?" Steve asked thickly.

"I think," Peggy muttered. "I think he came into the doorway of the room I was in right before you put the plane in the water. He must've heard what we said, I suppose."

Bucky froze halfway to the MP3 player, demanding, "You did what, punk?"

Peggy barked a still-watery laugh as Steve looked anywhere but at Bucky. "You two can discuss that tonight while I talk to Tony," she decided. "But right now I want to dance."

"I still don't know how," Steve warned, going to fiddle with the MP3 player in its base.

"I haven't danced in awhile either," Peggy assured him. "We'll figure it out."

Bucky was content to slide into a seat at the edge of the room and watch his soulmates as slow music flooded the air and Steve approached Peggy with his hand outstretched, asking, "May I have this dance, Agent Carter?"

"You're late," she informed him pertly, putting her hand in his.

"But we made it," Steve countered, pulling her close.

The awestruck love in her eyes took Steve's breath away as she repeated, "We made it."

After a long few minutes of stumbling, the duo managed to find a rhythm that worked for them and Steve became comfortable enough with the movements to ask, "How long has it been since you last danced?"

"Like this?" Peggy blushed, admitting, "I… I always wanted to wait for it to be with you."

Realizing what she was implying, Steve murmured, "Aw, Peg," and stopped right in the middle of the dance floor, cupping her face in his hands to kiss her.

The song ended and Bucky stood, calling out gaily, "My turn, punk!" He approached the two of them and took not Steve's, but Peggy's, place.

She chuckled, only half-teasing when she asked, "Why can I see this becoming the story of my life?" as she moved to step away.

"Nah," Bucky replied. "Not gonna let that happen, doll." And he pulled her back towards them until it was the three of them holding hands.

Dancing with one partner was hard enough, adding more than that to the mix and making it work took even more effort, but when the next song came on, they learned how to manage it.

* * *

When the three of them finally made it back to the Tower, JARVIS informed them that it was late enough that Tony's soulmates had already dragged him off to bed, so the conversation Peggy wanted to get out of the way would have to wait until morning.

The AI added, "Agent Romanoff has also asked that you all meet her on Thor's level at 8:05 tomorrow morning.

"Why?" Steve asked.

"I'm not allowed to say."

Thus the odd request was made even stranger, but after how well today had ended, Steve was willing to go with it. "We'll be there."


	21. Chapter 21

Loki’s eyelids fluttered open at exactly 8:01 the next morning – and them he jumped so violently he nearly hit the ceiling when he saw ten faces staring down at him. “Norns!” he snapped. “Can I help you?!”

“Why are we here?” the woman with the Brooklyn accent demanded of him.

“What did you tell them, JARVIS?” Loki asked impatiently, sitting up slowly.

“How they got here, but I refused to tell why they’re here; I thought you might like having that pleasure yourself. The only people who even know they’re here are currently staring at you.”

“But three more important people are going to be here in four minutes,” Natasha declared.

Getting a clue as to who she was talking about, Loki made a disgruntled noise and raked his hair back out of his face, muttering, “And I’m sure those three will be ‘why’ enough. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m famished.”

He stood and shouldered his way between Jane and Agent Romanoff as he headed into the kitchen, ordering, “Tell me there’s more breakfast food here than Thor’s pop-tarts.”

“Miss Lewis and Dr. Foster have various cold breakfast cereals.”

“Toast?” he nearly pleaded.

“Bread is in the cabinet; you can manage it on your own… and while you do, there’s something you need to know.”

“And what’s that?”

“Mr. Stark and I have a theory that Thor and Miss Lewis may believe that they are soulmates.”

 Loki slammed his head against a shelf as he rooted around for the bread and emerged rubbing his head as he squawked, “What?!”

“The probability is heightened due to Miss Lewis and Dr. Foster being soulmates, and according to my research yesterday, Thor and Miss Lewis have actually gone out of their way to never have skin on skin contact.”

“You never told me any of this!” Loki snarled accusingly.

“My apologies; you never asked.”

Loki sighed, the fight fleeing from him as he muttered, “I’ll remedy the issue as soon as I can.” He heard the elevator door open and Agent Carter screamed with glee as he added, “But not this instant.”

Agent Carter already had her arms wrapped around one of the newcomers to the Tower as he shuffled back into the living room and herded those that weren’t Captain Rogers’ soulmates into the elevator. Agents Barton and Romanoff clambered up into the elevator shaft, apparently deciding that would be the quickest way to leave as Rogers had to practically drag Barnes into the roomful of strangers.

This left Loki alone with Thor, Jane, and Darcy in the elevator, and already Loki couldn’t help trying to position Darcy and Thor side by side. The two of them were well-versed in this game that Loki had never before noticed, though, and Darcy merely tugged her sleeves down to cover even her fingertips while Thor shot his brother a confused look.

Loki barely refrained from growling. Many, many times over his lifespan, he’d dreamed of his soulmate, but she had never taken on any discernible form in his mind. Until last night, when he’d been haunted by a brunette British Midgardian whose face he never saw. Part of him wanted to blame the occurrence on the trust shown to him as Steve by the elderly Agent Carter, _all_ of him wanted to be done with this ridiculous mission, and so he was subsequently out of patience.

Thus his subtlety was gone too.

Jane stepped out of the elevator first – they’d come to her lab – and then Loki, who stepped to the side of the contraption and waited. When Darcy stepped off, Loki grabbed her wrist, tugged her sleeve out of the way, and planted her bare palm against his brother’s cheek as Thor passed. If they were soulmates, there was going to be none of this denying it business.

Thor and Darcy both cried out and the poli-sci student snatched her hand away to reveal turquoise runes on Thor’s cheek and gold ones on her hand.

Suddenly someone was _hugging_ Loki from behind. Jane, laughing with glee and declaring, “I really do think I like you by now, Loki! I thought they were never going to figure their mess out!”

“You’re welcome,” he said dryly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to return to Asgard.”

“Pick up an Idunn’s apple for Darcy while you’re there?” Jane called hopefully after him.

He gestured to let her know he’d heard her request, calling out half-heartedly, “Congratulations on completing your triad.”

By now, Loki was more than ready to be away from all of the Avengers, their soulmates, and all of the “happily ever afters” that he’d just finished ensuring that they all had.

* * *

When the elevator doors opened and Peggy screamed, Steve was justifiably worried. “Peggy?” he asked, only for her to dart out of the elevator and hug the nearest stranger in the room.

“Eddie!” she burst into tears, clinging to him like he was a lifeline as she buried her face in his lapel.

“Peggy?” the crisp British accent was colored with surprise and after a half-second pause, he hugged her back, calling out, “Look who I found, Jack.”

Loki emerged from the kitchen and shuffled everyone but the strangers into the elevator… that Bucky was suddenly refusing to leave. His eyes were wide with terror as he stared at the blonde man who was quickly approaching Peggy, and as the pieces began to fit together in Steve’s mind, he got the feeling he knew why.

“What’s going on?” he hissed at Loki, just to be sure.

The god gave him an “even you can figure that out” roll of the eyes and Steve sighed, turning his attention back to Bucky and _pulling_ him out of the elevator before the doors closed, leaving eight people in the room together.

Peggy gasped, suddenly realizing this as she pulled away from the tight hug Jack was giving her to say, “Forget about finding me; we found Steve and Bucky!”


	22. Chapter 22

Bucky was trembling at Steve's side, fighting every instinct he had to tear out of the room, and the hand that was clinging to Steve's suddenly dampened with nervous sweat as Jack stepped up to Steve and held out his hand, saying, "It's a real honor to meet you, captain."

Steve grinned, accepting the handshake and thinking back to what Peggy had told him of this man as he replied, "And you. I've heard you're quite the husband."

"I try," Jack replied, squeezing Peggy's shoulders with his other hand while he smiled.

Bucky all but  _hid_ behind Steve, peering warily over his shoulder at the others, but there was a fair chance everyone here knew why. Jack's words manifested as green, and while his on Steve had been simple, Bucky's had been much more complicated – a man begging for his life. Anyone who knew early SHIELD history knew that Thompson had been shot out of a job, so to speak… and now Steve was figuring out who'd shot him. Bucky and Jack had already met, and it was pretty obvious Bucky remembered it. His whole body tensed as Jack opened his mouth to address him directly; he was getting ready to bolt, and Steve had no idea how far he had in mind to go.

And then a dark-haired man slipped up behind Jack, sliding an arm around his waist as he told Bucky, "Ten bucks says my blonde's more trouble than yours."

Somehow that was exactly the right thing to say to get Bucky to relax a little, because Steve could feel the very  _air_ around Bucky relax as he snorted, muttering, "Doubt it."

Jack arched an eyebrow at Steve, who merely shrugged.  _So long as Bucky's talking to someone._

"Okay," Peggy clapped her hands together authoritatively. "Introductions. We all know who Steve, Bucky, and now Jack are. The others are-" she pointed them out in turn. "–Angie and Daniel Sousa and Anna and Edwin Jarvis."

Steve did a double take on that last name as it struck him for the first time that he was looking at – and  _soulmate to_ – the brave man who had raised Tony Stark.

Judging by the look on his face, Edwin guessed, "I'm not what you expected, am I, Captain?"

"No, you aren't," Steve answered honestly. One of his favorite soulmarks had come from Howard Stark's butler. Because this was the shape his life was taking nowadays, and as he looked around at the others in the room, he was honestly okay with that. When Angie came up, he said as much to her, "But with as many pretty brunettes as I'm seeing in this room, that's alright by me."

She smirked, shrugging and eyeing him coyly as she replied, "The blondes aren't too bad either."

"Why, thank you, darling," Jack spoke up, pulling her to his other side.

"Come on, Jack," Daniel protested. "You've gotta give the poor man a chance. He turned to Steve, saying, "I apologize for him; he can be a bit of an attention hog."

Steve eyed Bucky teasingly as he replied dryly, "That's fine; I'm used to having to fight past my friends to get a girl."

"They ignored me after your serum," Bucky protested. "Which is a crying shame!" Angie declared, wiggling away from Jack to wrap her arms around Bucky's metal arm fearlessly.

Bucky froze – it hadn't escaped Steve's notice how particular he was about whom he let touch the prosthetic – and looked down at Angie like he was a cornered mouse. He opened his mouth with a question in his eyes, nervously licking his lips before he said softly – a ghost of the man Steve knew – "Not that you and your big, blue eyes are familiar with that problem."

"Careful of those eyes, though," Eddie spoke up to warn Bucky lightly. "They'll win entire arguments before even a word is said."

Sarcasm was obviously still going to be Bucky's default because he rolled his eyes pointedly at Steve, admitting to Eddie, 'I'm used to' the effects baby blues can have."

" _You_ are?" Steve snorted. "Go check a mirror, jerk."

Eddie asked, "Are we going to sit down?"

"Actually," Steve replied. "We should probably give Thor his apartment back."

So they all shuffled into the elevator together. Bucky ended up with Steve on one side and on the other… a woman who had yet to say a word – Anna Jarvis, according to Peggy. She was the tiniest person here, and was setting off long-buried instincts in him that he usually associated with pre-serum Steve. She was a little freaked out and needed a push in the right direction. He was asking for it, considering what his words from her were, but she just looked so uncertain… For this little soulmate he thought maybe he could risk it.

He leaned down to her ear and murmured, "If I'm not allowed to be shy, I don't think you are either."

"They're letting you ignore Jack, aren't they?" she pointed out predictably, obviously startled – first when he spoke and then at her own brassy reply.

"I'm not ignoring him; there's just a conversation that we need to have privately before anything else happens between us."

"I agree," Anna said. "So let's make a deal. You have that talk with Jack and  _only then_ will I talk to Steve."

Bucky raised his eyebrows. He'd expected a lot of replies, but not that. "That's not a deal; it's blackmail."

She turned, looking him in the eye for the first time – and  _gone_ was the petrified puppy expression. She knew the exact corner she'd just backed him into and she knew she was going to win – and she seemed almost proud of it.

Suddenly he realized, "You're just another punk!"

"Only for my family's sake," she grinned.

He had absolutely just been played! The part of him that was the Winter Soldier wanted to be irritated, angry with her even, but  _Bucky_ had always been amused by a harmless but feisty pipsqueak… and around these seven he felt more and more like Bucky – like a human being – then he had since before he could remember.


	23. Chapter 23

So when the elevator opened, Bucky squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, grabbed Jack's arm, and demanded in a low voice, "We need to talk."

"Not really," Jack shrugged, automatically knowing what he wanted to discuss. "You weren't yourself, so you did things you wouldn't have, and pulling that trigger just so happened to be one of those things. It's in the past and I'm willing to leave it there if you are."

It had been a very long time since Bucky had been accosted by such an urge to just  _hug_ someone, and he didn't bother second-guessing it now. " _Thank you,_ " he murmured in the other man's ear.

"According to Peggy, that wound was a blessing in disguise from a certain angle; having a female co-founder after my demotion was a big deal for the women in the workplace movement."

As Jack ushered Bucky further into Steve's apartment, Peggy added, "Plus I always got along better with Howard than Jack did."

"The man was annoying!" Jack complained.

Eddie corrected, "You and 'the man' were both too big-mouthed for your own good."

"Speaking of big-mouthed…" Bucky drawled, pointedly eyeing Anna as people found seats around the living room.

Steve, Bucky, Jack, and Peggy all sat down on one couch and Anna blushed – apparently she was shy after all sometimes – as she sat down on Peggy's lap and hauled her feet into Bucky's, laying her head down in Steve's, staring up at him as she said, "Hi there, handsome."

"Hello, beautiful," Steve replied with a smile.

Peggy grinned at Anna, telling Steve and Bucky, "She decided that she liked lying on a human couch like this on the day that Angie, Jack, Daniel, and I met her."

"Yeah?" Bucky asked innocently, laying his metal arm across her ankles gently.

Yet Anna was suddenly nervous as she repeated slowly, "Yeah…"

He let himself relax completely, grin turning wolfish as he locked the metal arm into place and removed her shoes at warp speed, tickling her feet experimentally.

"Bucky…" she warned, already trying to jerk her feet away from him.

"If his arm works anything like Danny's leg, you're not going anywhere," Peggy remarked – and then she pinned Anna's arms down so she didn't thrash too much, making Bucky actually  _laugh aloud_ as the Englishwoman asked, "Don't you know better than to say 'hi' at a first meeting?"

"Hypocrite," Bucky shot back, beginning to tickle Anna in earnest as he suggested, "Her ribs are pretty prone, Jack."

"No!" she screamed at the blonde man. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, but I would," Jack grinned. And he did.

"Don't you love payback?" Bucky inquired calmly of her.

She couldn't speak – could barely breath past her helpless laughter – and when she did catch her breath long enough, she squealed pleadingly, "Edwin!"

Anna's husband, who had been watching in amusement from the other couch with Daniel and Angie, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Do you want me to get involved, darling?"

She nodded frantically, so he stood from one couch and knelt in front of the other at his wife's head. Too late, Anna realized exactly what he had asked her and began to shake her head as he began to tickle her… neck?

"That's nice to know!" Jack teased as her screaming rose to a new pitch. "How hadn't we figured that out before?"

"Vile man!" Anna accused Edwin raggedly.

Bucky chuckled – then froze as something changed in her expression and she lost her breath again. "A-" she choked out, eyes widening. "A-a-!"

"Let her up!" Steve ordered, helping her sit upright as Jack, Peggy, and Eddie shifted, every expression around the room creasing with worry as Steve asked perceptively, "Anna, do you have asthma?"

She nodded frantically and Peggy shouted at JARVIS, "We need an inhaler!"

"Mr. Stark doesn't keep them in stock," JARVIS said apologetically.

Bucky didn't know what an inhaler was, but something that was nearly muscle memory was reminding him that he knew how to help an calm what was only  _about_ to become an asthma attack. "Move!" he ordered, much sharper than he'd meant to as he knelt in front of Anna where she was still sitting in Peggy's lap struggling to breathe. His voice and expression was calm, soothing even, as he reached to massage her back and chest, "Catch your breath, sweetheart; it's alright, you can do it. Just breathe with me."

And slowly but surely she did. Her breathing deepened and evened out, color returned to her cheeks, and when he was certain she was alright Bucky's focus widened to once again include all seven of his soulmates as Anna muttered, "I haven't had anything happen like that since I was ten!"

"You've never been brought back to life before either," Peggy pointed out, stroking her hair. "It's been a rather exciting past twenty-four hours."

"She's right," Bucky muttered. "Attacks like that can be caused by stress alone, and then when we made it hard for you to breathe…"

"We're sorry," Eddie told her, still looking worried. "It never even crossed my mind!"

"And why should it? I'm  _fine_ ," Anna assured him, squeezing his hand even as she winced at the pain of talking.

"Here," Steve said, gently pushing a glass of water into her free hand. "This should help ease the soreness."

"You may want to whisper for a little while, though," Bucky added, one more thing he didn't remember knowing until it was there in front of him.

So she did, saying "thank you" as she looked between the two super soldiers.

Eddie added, "I, for one, am glad you were here for that."

"Well,  _I_ , for one," Angie spoke up. "Am glad that we are  _all_ here and together at last."

"So true," Eddie agreed, reaching for Angie – who was holding hands with Daniel – with one hand while grasping Bucky's hand with the other.

The ex-assassin wasn't sure what was happening as he watched Daniel take one of Steve's hands and Peggy the other while Anna leaned against Peggy and took Jack's hand. But then Jack's free hand was closing around Bucky's metal one and he could  _feel_ it – he hoped they all could feel this –  _completeness_!

* * *

Once again, Loki was in front of Odin's throne with disbelief in his eyes – but at least he was standing this time, if just barely managing it.

He yelled, "What do you mean, 'the mission is incomplete'?!"

"When I originally presented you with the necessary information, you cut me off before I could explain all that I required, acted as though you knew it all. Obviously you did not. Agents Barton and Romanoff are part of a soulmate quartet-"

"I thought multi-soulmark bonds were unusual and rare for Midgardians!" he cried in exasperation.

"They are," Odin allowed. "But you are dealing with unusual and rare Midgardians in the Avengers – of which you have forgotten an entire member. Heimdall tells me that Phillip Coulson is regarded as an Avenger by some."

Loki scoffed, "I'm quite certain Phillip Coulson is a dead man."

"Oh, but he is not, and it is within your responsibilities as I prescribe them to unite him – as a soulmate – to the two women who bear words from him."

"You want me to return to Midgard and face a man who would as soon see me killed as let me within eyesight?"

"You'll be facing his new team as well," Odin verified. "The sooner you leave, the sooner you can complete your tasks and return."

Loki sighed, gave the All-Father the obligatory bow, and turned to go until Frigga called out, "Loki." He looked over his shoulder at her to find her holding an Idunn's apple out to him. "For Darcy."

She tossed the apple to him with an encouraging, maternal smile and he barely managed to tip up one corner of his mouth in return before he headed back to the Bifrost and the Avengers.

He walked into the residential area of the Tower and demanded sourly, "Where's Darcy?"

"She and your brother are…  _occupied_ on his level." Loki sighed, said he wanted to be taken there anyway, and left the golden apple on the counter before beating a hasty retreat to the elevator. "What's next?" JARVIS inquired of him.

Loki sighed for the umpteenth time, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall as he shoved down his own loneliness to focus on what lied ahead of him as he replied, "Now I have to dive into Coulson's world."


	24. Author's Note

AN: Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 21 of this story were edited on 9/17/15.


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